Street Mouse
by balthezarian
Summary: When you're used to the finer things in life, how do you survive when everything you ever had is taken away?
1. Chapter 1

Note: This is completely, totally, and unconditionally an AU. All characters are human, there are no aliens, yadda yadda yadda.

/////

It had happened so quickly that she had no chance to prepare for it. One day she had been at the top of the world, the queen of everything she saw and virtually untouchable. Then the men in suits came to her home. They carried briefcases and files and spoke in harsh tones. Whipping through papers that made absolutely no sense to her, they threatened her father with words like "fraud" and "embezzlement". Then they turned to her mother and started talking of "obstruction of justice", "perjury", and "tampering with evidence".

Twenty four hours after the men entered her home, everything was gone. Her parents were in prison, awaiting a trial that everyone knew would not end up in their favor. The house was foreclosed, the cars were repossessed, and every worldly possession she had ever loved was taken away. No family members were willing to risk taking her in, for fear of somehow being connected with the case. There no longer existed a soul willing to be called a "family friend". And, as she had just turned eighteen three days earlier, she was completely on her own.

No home to live in. No car to drive. Barely any money to help her survive. A high school diploma was the only proof of training to her name. She had absolutely nothing but what few belongings she had managed to hide in a backpack out behind the pond before everything was taken.

It had been two weeks since her world had fallen apart, and Bulma Briefs was not fairing well. Out of overwhelming misery, she had left the city she had once called home. The mere sight of it brought so much pain to her heart that she would sob uncontrollably. In her grief, she had taken her pack and hopped on a bus, getting off at a random stop. She had been sleeping anywhere she could, mostly on park benches. She tended to change which bench she slept on, though she never understood why. All she knew was that she slept with her pack strapped to her chest, held as tightly as possible in her arms.

On her first day she had bought food, but it took her one bite into her meal before she realized that if she did that on a daily basis, she would have nothing left after four days. Her remarkable looks had allowed her to flirt an occasional bite from a hotdog or pretzel vendor, but without anything more than a public restroom to clean up in, that gift had been horribly short lived.

As disgusted as she had felt about it, the only way she had been able to reliably get something to eat was to wait for the school children to leave and pulling the remains of their food from the trash. The idea had been so horrifying at first, but after three days without any food at all, she no longer cared.

One dark, windy day, the distraught young woman found herself wandering aimlessly around the streets of her new city. The sky left little doubt that rain would come, hard and soon. Bulma had not had to deal with that particular problem in her homeless state, and she was despondently looking for any place where she might be able to stay safe and dry.

A piece of newspaper blew past her face, and following instinct, Bulma turned her head to watch it. As she glanced across the street, she saw a line forming of people who did not look like they were fairing any better than she was.

Hope began to fill her heart as she headed toward it. With that particular level of clientele, there was little doubt in Bulma's mind that she had found either a shelter or a soup kitchen. While the kitchen would not be able to keep her dry at night, it would give her the first hot meal she'd eat in two weeks, and that thought alone helped the barest hint of a smile come across her face.

She crossed the street eagerly, not wanting to be any further back in the line than possible. With a little hop in her step, she rose over the curb and slid in with the others.

" 'Scuse me, miss," the elderly man in front of her quickly said, "you're going to have to leave."

The once powerful woman shot him a furious glare. "What gives you the right to be here but not me?" she shouted back at him.

The man gave her a questioning look before nodding his head toward the building. "I don't mean no offense, miss, but this here's the men's shelter. Women's shelter is on Helter Street."

Bulma felt her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry I snapped at you," she genuinely apologized.

"No offense taken," the man replied, offering a friendly nod. "Ya' need to stick up for yourself, 'specially in our line." He looked her up and down, studying her carefully. "You're new to this, ain't ya'?"

The eighteen year old took a hesitant step backwards. "What makes you say that?"

"Too clean," he simply offered. "I mean, yeah, you got some stuff on your clothes and your hair could use a wash, but your pack ain't dirty and it ain't breakin' up. Plus, you got clean nails. Most of us who've been here for a while don't bother cleanin' underneath the nails. You look young, too."

"I am young," Bulma countered.

The man gave a smirk, but also a solemn nod. "Yeah, but you _look_ it. I seen girls your age look thirty years old 'cause of what they do to live out here."

The eighteen year old lowered her eyes for a moment. "How, um, how do I find Helter Street?"

With a smile on his face, the man raised a worn hand. "You go three streets up 'til you reach Pine. Hang a right, sweetie," he added a hand gesture, just to make sure she knew which way to go, "and just keep on walkin' until you find it. Should be on the left." He looked up at the sky and thought for a moment. "You may wanna hurry it up, though. Weather like this has people getting in line quick, and they can only take so many bodies."

"Thank you," Bulma whispered, situating her pack as she turned.

"Any time, kid!"

With a rush of energy she had not felt in two weeks, Bulma began to run. The idea of sleeping with a roof over her head was unbelievably motivating. Her dirty sneakers pounded on the pavement as she approached the first street. The inside of her throat began to burn as she pushed herself harder and harder, determined to make it in enough time. She swiftly rounded the corner, but as she headed down Helter, Bulma's vision began to blur slightly. Two weeks of malnourishment, a severe lack of sleep, and a radical lifestyle change had left her too weak to handle such a swift and intense physical activity.

As her head swam, she accidentally let her side hit a brick building. "No," she whispered. Bulma fought to keep herself on her feet, but even she knew she was fighting a losing battle. Her knees buckled, and the eighteen year old hit the ground hard as she blacked out completely.

/////

"I think she's waking up!"

"You've been saying that every two minutes for almost an hour, honey."

"No, really, I think she's waking up this time! Her eyelids are moving!"

The voices Bulma heard were so muted that she could not tell if they were male or female, let alone who they belonged to. A wave of nausea washed over her, and she rolled her head to the side. She tried to speak, but she could not seem to get her mouth to work properly.

"Oh, take it easy," a soothing voice said. Bulma had cleared up just enough to tell that the voice speaking to her was female. A hand touched her shoulder as she slowly opened her eyes, and the blue haired beauty was disappointed to find that her eyesight was still swimming slightly.

"I told you she was waking up," a soft male voice gloated. "I'll go get some more water."

Bulma tried to sit up on her own, but found it virtually impossible. An arm cradled around the back of her head, and the girl felt her head being lifted into the other female's lap. "There, there," the other woman calmly spoke. "Don't try to move any more than you have to, sweetie. You're not in good shape right now."

As the former heiress focused her eyes, she realized that she was being helped by a girl her own age with raven black hair. Trying once again to speak, she managed to get out a raspy, "Where?"

The dark haired girl smiled softly at her. "You're in an abandoned apartment building on Shoreline Street," she quietly spoke. "My boyfriend found you when he was out…on a walk…and he brought you back here for help." The girl stroked Bulma's hair softly, trying to keep her relaxed.

Bulma glanced around as far as her peripheral vision would allow her to. The room appeared mostly barren, save a few boxes and a pile of blankets. The room was dark, and she could clearly hear that the storm had started. While she had not managed to make it to the shelter before the storm had broken, she was grateful that she at least had a roof over her head.

She coughed a few times, clearing her throat. "Why did he bring me here?" she hoarsely asked.

The other girl brought her eyebrows together before she answered. "You need help, honey," she quietly replied. "And, no offense, but you don't look like you could afford going to the doctor." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Even free clinics aren't completely free. No money, no meds, and if you can't have the medicine, then there's no point in going to the doctor. Besides, it looks like what you need is food and shelter." The girl offered a sad smile. "I don't know how much we can do about that first one, but we're happy to help with the second."

Loud footsteps pounded into the room. "I got the water!" a boy called out. In his arms was an enormous jug, one half full of water. "Is she going to be okay?"

"I think so," the girl answered. "Bring me my cup."

The boy immediately did as he was instructed, eager to help. "How is she?" he asked, handing over the dinged up cup.

Slowly helping Bulma angle her head so she could take a sip, the girl smiled softly. "She should be fine."

Bulma coughed as she tried to swallow, but she did manage to get most of her sip down. "Who are you guys?" she finally asked.

"My name is Chi-Chi Mau," the girl gently answered, "and this is my boyfriend, Goku Son. We've been living in this building for a little over a year with two of our friends." She once again helped Bulma take a sip. "Come on, sweetie, drink up."

Much more awake, Bulma began to gulp greedily as the cool liquid. "Whoah, take it easy!" Goku said. "You keep that up, you're going to puke!"

Though she didn't want to, Bulma did heed his advice and slowed down her drink. "Thank you," she apologized. "For everything, really." From her position on the floor, she looked at her two saviors. "For helping me, for getting me water, for keeping me out of the storm…"

Goku laughed, waving it off. "Please, all I did was carry you, and you're light as a feather!"

Bulma smiled. "Well, thank you anyway."

"Don't worry about it," Chi-Chi softly responded with a gentle smile. "We'll take good care of you."

Goku leaned in to his girlfriend and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Aw, you're just happy to have something to take care of right now," he joked. He looked down at their new companion and said in a loud stage whisper, "She's been trying to play mommy with everything and everyone for the last few weeks."

Feeling infinitely better, Bulma tried to sit herself up. It took some help from her new friends, but she did manage to prop herself up against the wall. It was at that moment that she noticed the small bulge at the other girl's abdomen. "You're…you're…"

"About five months along," Chi-Chi answered with a sad smile. "Which is why even though you're not feeling well, I still get first dibs on blankets and food."

"Speaking of which," Goku interrupted, "the sun's almost down, so the guys should be back fairly soon." As if on cue, two more sets of steps quickly approached. Bulma turned her head toward the door, awaiting the two new people. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting up the dark room as the door flew open.

Thunder clapped as Bulma looked at her new roommates.


	2. Chapter 2

"Who the hell is this?"

Bulma stared at the new boy in the room, completely in awe of him. She was still sitting on the floor, but even from her angle she could tell that he was not very tall. What he lacked in height, though, he made up for in intensity. His black hair was plastered to his forehead with the weight of the heavy rains, but his narrow eyes were focusing on her so hard that Bulma felt the urge to slink away to hide.

"Relax, Vegeta," Goku responded, getting to his feet and lighting a candle. "I found her unconscious on the street, and I brought her to Chi-Chi for help. She's been out almost all day long. In fact, she only woke up a few minutes ago."

Vegeta walked in and narrowed his eyes as he continued to study the newcomer. "That may explain how she got here," he coolly said, approaching the blue haired girl, "but that was not what I asked, is it? Now who the hell is she?"

Chi-Chi slowly got up as well, glaring down their roommate. "We don't have a name yet, you little bastard," she snipped. "Like Goku said, she's only been up for a few minutes. We haven't even given her the chance to tell us her name!"

"Then let's give her one now," he sneered back, his eyes never leaving the newcomer's. "What's your name, girl?"

Swallowing what little spit she had, Bulma cleared her throat. "Bulma," she hoarsely responded. "Bulma Briefs."

"Well, Bulma Briefs," he coolly spoke, kneeling so he was eye level with her, "we're a little low on beds here, so…"

"Oh, no you don't!" Chi-Chi snapped, quickly forcing her way between the two. "You are not kicking her out onto the streets during this storm, and that's final!"

Vegeta stood back up, glaring hard at the pregnant teen. "It is not your decision," he hissed at her. "We are barely able to keep the four of us alive, you brat, and as you and your idiot boyfriend decided on a fifth mouth to feed already," he sneered, indicating her swollen middle, "you are hardly in the position to add a _sixth_ body."

The shorter boy from the doorway made his way toward the angry group. "Um, I'm not entirely certain what's going on or who this chick is, but that storm is really something, and I know I'd feel terrible about sending someone out into that."

"You keep out of this," both Chi-Chi and Vegeta snapped, never stopping their stare down.

Goku laughed and pulled his friend away from the warring teenagers. "You'd think after all this time you'd know better than to try to talk to them while they're fighting, Krillen." He grabbed the bag his old friend heard, looking inside to see what they managed to get. "I don't suppose there's a cheeseburger in here, is there?"

"Yes, Goku," Krillen sarcastically said as he rolled his eyes. "A lot of supermarkets get rid of hot, juicy cheeseburgers."

The tallest boy just laughed again as he rummaged through a bag full of ramen noodles and several containers of dehydrated soup. "Wow, you guys got a lot!" he beamed. "How did you get so much?"

Krillen shrugged his soaking sweatshirt off and walked it over to a small sink. "Some punk thought it would be funny to run down the aisles and poke holes in a whole bunch of crap," he answered, wringing out his sweatshirt. "Store can't sell stuff that's been opened, so they had to throw it out. We pulled it from the dumpster."

Goku shot Vegeta a mixed look. "Good idea," he admitted, "but I'm not sure that I like the idea of you ruining the store's stuff…"

"Then don't eat your share," the angry teenager shot at his companion.

"Speaking of shares," Krillen interrupted, giving his shirt one final shake before tossing it on a strung up rope, "we do need to decide what to do with what's-her-face over there."

Chi-Chi glared at Vegeta. "She stays."

"She goes," he shot back.

"Let's vote," the shortest of the group bluntly stated. "Then we have a diplomatic agreement and we don't have to listen to you two go at each other's throats."

"I like this idea!" Goku enthusiastically agreed. "Okay, who thinks new girl should stay?"

Chi-Chi and Goku shot their arms into the air, and Krillen's was quick to follow. With no large amount of conviction, Bulma herself brought a shaky hand over her head, hoping to be counted with the others.

Krillen looked around the room and nodded. "Four to one, new girl stays," he finalized. When Vegeta glared at him with murder in his eyes, Krillen waved his hands defensively. "Only until the storm is over!" he added. "We'll have a recount when the weather's not so bad that we know we're sending a girl out to die in it."

Glaring furiously at Krillen, he shifted his glare to Chi-Chi, and finally down to Bulma before furiously storming to a side room and slamming the door shut as hard as he could.

Shivering, Bulma stared at the back of the door. Never, in all her life, had she ever met someone who had been so full of anger, and quite frankly he scared the crap out of her. Just thinking about him forced another shiver down her spine.

"Don't mind him," Krillen casually said, wringing out his tee-shirt as well. "Vegeta can be a pain in the ass a lot of the time, and you'd have to be an idiot to not notice that he has a temper, but he's actually one of the best allies you could hope to have." The short boy tilted his head toward one of the bags they had brought in. "Chi-Chi, you'll find what you need at the bottom of that one."

Bulma watched in awe as the other girl pulled out a large bottle of prenatal vitamins.

"I take it Vegeta is the one I need to thank for these?" the pregnant girl said.

As Krillen nodded, Goku let out a little laugh and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend. "See?" he pointed out. "I told you that he'd manage to get them for you!"

"They're even for the right months of pregnancy," Chi-Chi observed, reading the bottle carefully. "That son of a bitch really can get his hands on anything."

Goku dug into one of the other bags. "Ooh, they got the crackers and ginger ale for you too!" An enormous grin broke out on his face. "Maybe this means you won't be throwing up as much anymore!"

Hesitantly, Bulma cleared her throat. "So, um, how long…how do…how, uh…"

A shirtless Krillen sat down on the floor and stretched out his back. "We all came together about three years ago," he answered. "Though Goku and Chi-Chi knew each other before, and Vegeta and I have known each other since we were pretty young."

"Our parents kicked us out," Goku casually said, though his did frown when his girlfriend smacked a granola bar out of his hands. "My parents walked in on us getting it on, called her folks, and decided that the 'best idea' to 'deal' with us was to kick us out." He tried once again to get a snack, but Chi-Chi was keeping a careful eye on him.

"Anyway," he went on, taking a seat next to Krillen, "a few weeks after we got booted, I ran in to Krillen in the park. He was trying to get apples out of the tree, but couldn't quite make it to the branch."

Krillen shifted slightly so his could kick his tall friend in the ribs. "It's not my fault that they decided to cut off the low branches!" he protested. He turned quickly to Bulma and held up his hands in a defensive manner. "The city decided that too many kids were getting hurt falling out of the damn thing, so they cut off any branch they thought one of the little bastards could get to!"

Goku laughed and pushed his friend back. "Yeah, but you're the same size they are," he pointed out. It was his turn to address the new girl. "I gave him a boost, he got what he wanted, and a friendship was born."

The blue haired girl smiled softly at the story. "One act of kindness, and you two were friends? That's wonderful."

Chi-Chi rolled her eyes, swallowing one of the pills and chasing it as quickly as she could with a little water. "That's because they are the two most trusting people on the planet. They got lucky that neither one of them was trying to pull the wool over the other's eyes."

The two boys just shrugged their shoulders. "Hey, just because you and Vegeta don't trust anyone doesn't mean that we're not allowed to," Goku replied. He looked over in Bulma's direction and smiled gently. "Those two have a thing against trusting people they don't know."

Bulma looked at Chi-Chi, extremely confused. "Then…then why am I…"

"There is a difference," the dark haired girl calmly explained, "between taking the word of someone you don't know and helping someone who is in dire need. You did not come to us asking for help or information. You were found unconscious on the street, and you don't have any marks on your arms or traces of powder under your nose." A serious look crossed her face before she added, "If you know what you're doing at all, you never trust someone who approaches you on the street."

"Got it," Bulma nodded. She turned her head toward the smallest boy and asked, "So, how did you and the other guy get here?"

Krillen, who had grabbed a blanked to keep warm while his shirt dried, took a sudden interest in his feet. "Vegeta and I met when we were both in the system."

"The system?"

Offering a noncommittal shrug, Krillen pulled the blanked closely around his body. "Foster care," he clarified. "My parents died when I was a kid, and his…well, that's his story to tell. Anyway, we got into the system around the same time. He was eight, I was seven, and neither of us was particularly happy with where we were. We got partnered up, so we went from temporary home to temporary home together for years. But kids who are older than about two rarely get adopted, and we got sick of moving into a stranger's house every six weeks, so we just left."

Bulma stared at him. "You just…left?"

"Yup," the diminutive teenager agreed. "We were both fed up, so we grabbed our bags and snuck out."

The newest girl still seemed to be having a difficult time wrapping her mind around the idea. "If you two snuck out of a house one night and never went back, shouldn't the police be looking for you or something?"

Krillen let out a bitter laugh. "Bulma, we're kids from the system. We disappear all the time, and almost no one actually cares about us. The police just assume that we're a lost cause, and I doubt they kept looking for us after a couple weeks."

Bulma sat quietly for a moment. "So, you've known Vegeta…"

"Nine, almost ten years," Krillen confirmed. "I know he can be a bit of a bastard from time to time, but I have no idea how I would have come this far without him. He's mean to your face, but he's got your back." He glanced at the others before smiling to himself. "In case you do end up sticking around for a while, you really do get used to him after a while."

When Chi-Chi gave a little snort at that statement, Goku laughed and scratched the back of his head. "You'll also get used to Chi-Chi and Vegeta fighting each other all the time. In fact, you should get used to both of them fighting everyone. It's just who they are."

Bulma laughed quietly to herself. "You may not be able to tell right now," she offered with a weak smile, "but when I'm on my game, I hear I can be a force to be reckoned with myself."

"Oh, goody," Krillen replied with a roll of his eyes. "Another fighter in the group." The short teenager got to his feet, the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders, and started sorting through the goods he and Vegeta had acquired earlier that day. "Most of this just requires hot water."

"About that," Bulma asked, sitting up a little further. "I was wondering, what exactly do you have access to here? There doesn't seem to be any power, but Goku got all that water pretty fast…"

Goku nodded. "Yeah, there's a spigot from the city water main in the basement, so we have all the water we need, easy."

"Heat's a little trickier," Krillen explained, putting various packages away. "We have an old camping stove that runs off propane, and we use that to heat water for food, but that's it. It's too hard for us to get enough of it to do anything more than that."

"We use blankets and body heat to keep ourselves warm," Chi-Chi added. "For the most part, it works just fine, but as we get close to winter it can sometimes get difficult. We all have to get under all of the blankets on the coldest nights." The dark haired girl sat down in an old, well worn looking chair and rubbed her belly. "And our only light comes from the sun or one candle at a time. We need to ration what we have."

Bulma nodded, taking in all the information she was being given, when a thought struck her. "Wait, if all the light we have is the candle in here, doesn't that mean that wherever the hell Vegeta is would be completely dark?"

"Yep," Goku answered with a smile. "But don't worry about him. He knows this building better than any of us, and he can find his way in the dark just fine. Sometimes, when he's in a bad mood…"

"Which is all the time," Chi-Chi interrupted.

"…he likes to be alone in the dark for a while," Goku went on, not even missing a beat. "I think it helps him calm down. So, yeah, if you see him mysteriously disappear into the halls for a while, don't worry. That's normal for him."

All of the new information she was taking in was making Bulma's head begin to swim. Of course, that might have also been caused by her lack of food and the fact that she had spent the majority of her day unconscious. "I don't feel so good," she mumbled, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the wall.

"Oh, crap," Goku muttered as he and Krillen sprinted to her side. "Bulma?"

"Bulma!" Krillen repeated, lightly smacking her cheek. "Hey, new girl, wake up!"

"Move," Chi-Chi commanded, shoving her boyfriend out of her way. Carefully, she knelt down and waved a sock underneath the other girl's nose. With a gasp and a start, Bulma's eyes shot wide open and she began to cough.

The two boys just blinked, confused by what had just happened. "How did you go that?" Krillen asked.

The dark haired girl huffed as she got all the way back to her feet. "I told you these smelled so bad they could wake the dead." Crinkling her nose, she threw the sock onto what was clearly the very dirty laundry pile. It wasn't large, but the smell certainly was.

"Get her something to eat," the pregnant girl commanded.

"Hey!" Goku protested. "How come she gets to eat and I don't?"

With a gentle touch, Chi-Chi brought her hand to her boyfriend's face. "Goku, she's not strong enough to stay awake for an hour right now, but you're still strong enough to carry forty pounds of water up the staircase. She needs it right now more than we do."

The tall boy offered a simple not as Krillen gave Bulma a snack bar. "Okay," he agreed, "but don't forget that you need to eat something, too." He placed a large hand on her swollen middle. "I want both of you to be okay."

As the couple shared their moment, the door quietly opened and a slightly calmer Vegeta came back in. Offering only a nod at his comrades, he slid over to his usual sleeping spot and settled in for the night.

He was not at all happy with the new girl, but if he had to wait for the morning to get rid of her, then he would. Then, as soon as the rain stopped, she was going to leave.

He would make sure of that.


	3. Chapter 3

The sun came up the next morning, but no one could see it through the dark storm clouds. What everyone had thought would be an overnight shower had turned into a serious storm.

"Man, it's really coming down out there," Krillen softly said.

Goku nodded, peering out the window. "There's no way we can get out there in weather like this."

The blue haired girl stared up at her two new, if temporary, roommates. "Why would you want to get out there?"

"Money," Chi-Chi answered, setting up the stove. "The guys can get work here or there doing day labor. Basic work, like cleaning out rain gutters, fixing roofs, or other outdoor chores people don't want to do themselves." She sighed, pouring some water into a well used saucepan. "We don't earn a lot of money, which is why we need to ration everything and raid the back of supermarkets for their leftovers."

Bulma frowned, remembering what had been implied the night before. "So, do you guys…_often_ make things unsellable so that stores have to toss them and you can get to it?"

Krillen shook his head, taking a seat next to the stove and hoping it would help him warm up. "We're a legit as we can be," he needed to point out. "We don't rob anyone, we don't steal stuff, and we buy whatever we can. But it's not like we can get real jobs, and it is seriously impossible to stay alive in our situation without _some_ backhanded tricks." A slight shiver ran through his body as the stove was finally lit.

Again, Bulma felt uncertain about the situation. "What do you mean, you can't get real jobs?"

"Please," Chi-Chi snorted, pouring several packets of instant oatmeal mix into the water. "None of us has so much as a high school diploma, not to mention the fact that we have no real address, no phone number, and no e-mail. There isn't a place out there that would hire us that."

"Well, that strip club might have taken you," Krillen joked, laughing as he was immediately swatted by the brunette.

It was a situation that Bulma had never thought about before. Without any of those things, there really _wasn't_ a way for them to get a legitimate job. But without that job, there was no way for them to get any of those things. It was a lose/lose situation from her perspective.

And yet, in spite of that, the four people in that room had managed to survive for years as honestly as possible. Needless to say, Bulma was impressed.

"In any event," Vegeta coolly spoke from the corner, "we are not taking new applicants, so don't make yourself at home."

"Vegeta!" Goku scolded. "It's still a mess out there! We can't send her out now!"

The shorter teen glared at his friend. "I didn't tell her to get the hell out immediately, now, did I?" he sneered. "All I told her was to not make herself comfortable. I do not wish for her to get the impression that she can stay here any longer than is absolutely necessary."

Bulma glared at him and got to her feet. "Look here, you little bastard," she fought, "I don't know what the hell your problem is, but I am not going to let you treat me like that. I understand that you guys don't exactly have tons to spare, but you haven't even given me the chance to prove what an asset I might be!"

"The only reason you were brought here in the first place is because you were incapable of taking care of _yourself_," the dark haired boy countered. "There is no way in hell you are going to be able to convince me that you can contribute to our survival. We survive by joining our strength. Yesterday, you were too weak to even get on your feet!"

"You have shelter and collaboration," Bulma shouted. "If I'd had _either_ of those things, I wouldn't have been so bad off!"

Off on the side, Goku sat down next to Chi-Chi and Krillen. "Collaboration?"

Krillen only shrugged, not sure of the definition himself, but Chi-Chi sighed as she stirred their breakfast. "It means help and teamwork."

"Oh," both guys responded, turning their attentions back to the fight.

Vegeta sneered at the new girl. "Fine then, tell me why you would be a valuable asset! Give me a good reason to let you stay!"

"You want a reason?" Bulma shouted back. "How about these? I actually _am_ a high school graduate, I don't eat a lot, I know about the physiology and basic development of children, a skill you guys will _definitely_ need in the near future, and if you gave me enough time, I could probably wire some actual power into this building so you wouldn't have to rely on one damn candle a night to see by! There, pick your favorite!"

The room fell silent for almost a full minute before Goku leaned back, an awed expression on his face. "Wow," he whispered to his girlfriend, "she really _is_ a force to be reckoned with…"

Vegeta glared at Bulma, fuming at her. No one said a word for two more minutes, waiting for the temperamental teenager to give a reaction. The tension was so thick in the air that all five of them felt it pressing on them.

Slowly, the short teenager took a step toward the newest person in the apartment. "You could get us power?" he growled. There was definitely an unspoken threat within the question, but the question itself seemed legitimate.

Mustering up her courage, Bulma mimicked his step and placed her hands firmly on her hips. "Just point me to your God damned furnace room. I guarantee that the access for this entire damn building to the city's power is there, and I could siphon enough power for us to use in this room without anyone noticing."

"And how long would it take you to do that?" Vegeta asked, a small hint of excitement starting to show in his voice.

Bulma closed the gap between them, glaring furiously into his eyes as she got close enough to bump noses with her opponent. "Just give me two hours and your breakfast can be cooked on the stove in the kitchen." She nodded her head toward her bag, never breaking eye contact with him. "I've got my entire tool set capsulized in my bag over there, and you better believe that I know how to use it."

Krillen slowly got to his feet, a hopeful look on his face. "You could get us power?"

"Like, _power_ power?" Goku asked. "As in we could have light and heat and stuff?"

Bulma kept her eyes on Vegeta. "Like I said," she coolly replied, "just give me two hours."

Slowly, a smirk crossed Vegeta's face. "You get us power, girl, and even I'll say you can stay."

"Then get me my damn bag, and show me your damn furnace room," she countered.

From the floor, Goku, always eager to help, scurried over and grabbed the bag. "This is so cool," he practically squealed. As he handed it over to Bulma, he turned to Chi-Chi and grinned. "See, honey? I told you that helping people would make good things happen! It's just like that TV show we used to watch, where the guy did good things and then good things happened to him!"

While Chi-Chi's instincts wanted to point out that rarely did karma work so cleanly, if at all, but even she was feeling joy at the idea of having real heat and power. "It'll be cold down there," she quickly informed Bulma. "You need something warm in your stomach. Then you can go."

Bulma turned to the brunette and smiled. "Yes, Mommy," she teased, taking her bag from Goku. Even she had been so caught up in the fight that she had forgotten that she was so hungry, her stomach actually hurt.

As Chi-Chi began to portion out the oatmeal, Krillen looked over at their newest roommate and raised an eyebrow. "So, how do you know how to tap into the city's power grid like that?" he sincerely asked. "I mean, where do you learn something like that?"

"My father taught me, honestly," Bulma responded, taking a bowl for herself. "He taught me how to do all kinds of things with machines and electricity and stuff. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I actually spent most of my time in a state of the art lab building stuff."

"What happened?" Goku asked, slightly spraying oatmeal as he spoke.

The eighteen year old girl sighed and stared at her breakfast. "I'm still trying to figure it all out," she confessed. "Everything was fine. Then one day, all these lawyers and a few federal agents came to the house and started accusing my parents of all kinds of stuff, like embezzlement, fraud, and perjury."

Off on the side of the room, Vegeta listened quietly but with great interest.

"A few days later," Bulma went on, "both of my parents were arrested, all family assets were seized, and I found myself living on the street."

"Didn't you have any friends you could crash with?" Goku asked.

But Bulma sadly shook her head. "None of the family friends wanted to risk any involvement with the case," she despondently explained. "They all saw me as too much of a liability to their own personal well being. And to be honest, I've never really had friends my own age before." She shrugged and stirred her food, feeling the bowl get cooler and cooler as she spoke. "I guess I just always found it more interesting to build stuff than to worry about who was dating whom or what the latest gossip was."

Krillen finished off his breakfast and placed the bowl in the sink. "Man, that sucks," he offered. "So you're _really_ really new at this, aren't you?"

Bulma nodded and continued to stir her breakfast. A large hand covered hers and forced her to actually put her food in her spoon. The former heiress looked up to find Goku kneeling behind her, his body lightly against her back and a soft look on his face. "Eat, Bulma," he softly said. "You don't want your food to get too cold."

The eighteen year old girl glanced over at Chi-Chi, unsure how to react. Bulma had not had a boy _that_ close to her before, and she couldn't help but feel like he might be a little _too_ close, considering he had a girlfriend. But Chi-Chi just smiled over at her and waved it off. "It's just his way," she casually spoke, taking a bite of her own breakfast. When Bulma just stared at her, she chuckled. "Oh, honey, back when we were high school I saw that look all the time. Goku just has no concept of personal space. He doesn't mean anything by it."

"I really don't," Goku reaffirmed. "I mean, I just forget that it bugs some people. I never understood why, though. It never bugged me when someone got close, and I really don't see how it could bother someone else." He shrugged, backing off and sitting down. "I guess that's why I keep forgetting."

"And that's why I'm way the hell over here," Vegeta interjected.

Chi-Chi rolled her eyes, and Goku and Krillen laughed. "Yeah," Goku admitted, scratching the back of his head, "I do get close to him _way_ more than he wants me to."

"Dude," Krillen responded, laughing harder, "are you kidding me? Two days ago he told you about a job for the two of you, and you didn't just _hug_ him, you picked him up!"

Vegeta emitted a low growl as he stood up to put his bowl away. On his way to the sink, he managed to smack both Goku and Krillen in the back of the head.

Krillen winced, but kept on smiling. "I'd complain," he confessed, "but I really did earn that."

"Genius deduction," Vegeta muttered, taking his seat off in the corner again. "Now are we going to sit here like idiots, or is newbie over there going to get us some God damned power in this building so that lamp will be more than a damn coat rack?"

"Our apologies, you majesty," Bulma sarcastically responded, spooning her cold oatmeal into her mouth. "Please allow a humble servant five minutes for a humble breakfast before turning to serve thou."

Krillen cleared his throat and leaned in toward Bulma. "Uh, I feel now is a good time to tell you that he'll smack you in the head, too."

Bulma blinked, swallowing a bite of her meal. "But I'm a girl!" she protested.

"Don't care," Vegeta responded, pulling on a jacket and walking for the door. "Man or woman, you piss me off, you get smacked in the back of the head. Now finish eating that and get your ass in gear."

Bulma grumbled as she polished off her food. "Fine," she muttered, placing her bowl where the others had. "But when I get us power, you start treating me with the respect I deserve!" She pulled on her own sweatshirt and followed him out of the room.

The three teenagers left in the room exchanged curious glances. "Well," Krillen eventually said, "I think that girl's really going to make things interesting around here…"


	4. Chapter 4

"Shine that light over here!"

Vegeta glared at the girl beside him. He had never taken orders particularly well, and it would be an understatement to say that he disliked being bossed around by some girl who he barely knew. "Watch it," he warned, moving the light in her direction.

Bulma rolled her eyes at his tone, but she kept her mouth shut. As proud as she was, it had not escaped her that Vegeta was just dying for an excuse to kick her back out on the street, and until she had proven herself useful, she had no intention of agitating him further.

A smirk crossed her face as she found the box she was looking for. "Bingo," she whispered. She reached within her pocket and pulled out her capsule, opening up her tools immediately. "Hey, could you shine this down here for a sec?"

Vegeta quietly did as asked, watching with interest as she grabbed what she needed and opened up the power box. He, too, did not want to piss his temporary comrade off. If she really did have the skills to get them free light and heat, he was going to take full advantage of it. Power was an asset that he and the others could not afford to lose out on.

Plus, even though he would never admit it out loud, she was fairly hot. Particularly as she bent across a pipe in order to reach to box.

Several minutes passed in silence before Bulma slammed the door to the box shut. "There," she said, dusting her hands with a happy sigh, "that ought to do it!"

/////

Upstairs, Goku, Chi-Chi, and Krillen were all sitting around their lamp. They just sat there, staring at it, praying that it would come on.

"How long do you think this is going to take?" Goku asked.

Krillen shrugged. "I really don't know, Goku. I haven't figured it out since the last time you asked thirty seconds ago."

Goku frowned slightly. "Well, can't you even guess?"

"Goku," Chi-Chi counseled, resting her hand on that of her boyfriend, "do us all a favor and shut up."

A few minutes later, the tallest teenager tilted his head to the side. "Hey, I hear footsteps! I think they're coming back!"

With a sad look on her face, Chi-Chi cast one last glance at the lamp before standing up to get lunch ready. Having power would have been invaluable when she eventually gave birth. Without a way to heat the room, things could get very bad very fast. Her look of sorrow quickly turned to one of anger. She was mad. Mad at Bulma for promising them power. Mad at herself for trusting the new girl, even though she knew better. Mad at Goku for bringing her to the apartment in the first place. Mad at Krillen for being an incurable optimist. Mad at Vegeta for…well, she didn't need a new reason to be mad at him. She had plenty of old stuff to be mad with him about.

She furiously pulled out the camping stove and began to attach the propane tank to the side, refusing to look up as that retched new girl entered her home. She was so mad that she honestly did not trust herself to keep what little temper she had left if she actually saw the bringer of false hope.

As Bulma entered the room, her eyebrows shot up. "Why didn't you guys turn anything on?" she asked.

"We did," Goku explained, pointing at the lamp. "It never came on."

Vegeta whipped his head to the side, glaring at Bulma. "I knew it," he hissed. "I knew it was too good to be true! I knew you were lying!"

Fire burned in Bulma's eyes as she faced Vegeta head on. "I was not lying!" she fought back. "I told you I could get this place power, and damn it, I gave you power!"

"Then why isn't the lamp on?" Krillen asked, his voice sincere but obviously somewhat upset.

With a huff, Bulma crossed her arms and looked around the room. Her eyes landed on the outlet that the others had plugged the lamp into, and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. She stalked over to the wall, walked a few feet down, and flipped the first switch she could find.

The room was flooded with light.

"Ta da," she sneered, crossing her arms again. With a smug look about her, she leaned up against the wall and glared at her doubters.

A clank was heard as Chi-Chi dropped the pot she was going to use for lunch. "We…we have power," she whispered.

Goku, Krillen, and Vegeta just stood in awed silence as they watched that 75 watt bulb glow.

"We have power," Chi-Chi said again, her voice getting louder. Suddenly, she squealed like a little girl and launched herself at Goku, wrapping her arms around him. "We have power!"

"We have power," Krillen slowly said, rubbing his hands together.

Goku wrapped his arms tightly around his lover. "We have power!" he cried out, lifting Chi-Chi clear off the ground and spinning her around and around. "We got it!"

"Whoah," Chi-Chi quickly said. She shoved herself away from Goku and sprinted for a bucket where she immediately hurled.

Immediately, Goku was by her side. "I'm sorry, honey," he sincerely apologized. "I guess you still get morning sickness, huh?"

Chi-Chi managed to stop throwing up long enough to smack her lover on the back of the head before continuing to spill her guts.

"Ow," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "Are you sure you and Vegeta aren't long lost twins?"

Had she the focus, she would have smacked her lover again for the comment.

Vegeta walked over to the wall Bulma was leaning on and leaned next to her. "I must say," he admitted, "not bad for a whiney little bitch."

Bulma shifted her weight but refused to look over at him. "Laugh it up, jackass," she coolly responded. "I gave you power, I can take it away."

"Oh, you wouldn't do a thing like that," the boy responded with no uncertainty in his voice.

"And why not?" she bit back, still refusing to look his way.

Vegeta pushed himself away from the wall and offered her a slight smirk. "Because," he casually mentioned as he turned away, "if you take away power from us, you're taking away power from your own home."

Bulma actually turned her head to look at the retreating teenager. Slowly, a grin began to form on her face. "Should I take that to mean that you aren't going to kick me back out onto the street?"

Vegeta did not give an official response, but Bulma didn't care. For the first time in weeks, things were finally starting to look up!

/////

"Rag!" Bulma commanded, sticking out her hand behind her body.

"Rag," Krillen responded, handing her the necessary tool.

Bulma grunted for a little bit, trying to get comfortable in her awkward position. She was literally bent in half to fit in her work space, and she grunted again before sticking her hand back out. "Light!"

Krillen twisted the penlight that the beautiful newcomer had provided him earlier, making sure it was lit before he handed it over. "Light!"

A few clanking noises were heard, and a dirty rag was tossed aside. "Forceps!"

The poor little teenager stared at the pile of tools around him. "Uh…"

From inside her project, Bulma rolled her eyes. "Do you know what tweezers look like?" she called out.

"Oh, yeah," Krillen quickly answered. He grabbed at the tool and quickly handed it to the bent over girl. "Forceps!"

Another minute passed, and that tool, too, was tossed aside. Once again, the hand was extended. "Clean rag!"

Krillen held up the only rag that Bulma had not managed to use yet. "Um, how clean are we talking here?" he asked. "Like, used in a doctor's office clean? Or will 'only used twice by people drying their hands' clean work?"

A giggle resonated from the tiny work area. "Hand drying clean is fine," the eighteen year old cheerfully responded. "You know, Krillen, you're not like any other guy I've ever met."

"Oh, really?" the shortest of the group responded as casually as he could. "How?"

"Well," Bulma went on, straining slightly as she reached for something, "I've been bent over this panel for almost half an hour, and every time I've checked on you, you _haven't _been staring at my ass." With a grunt, she finally was able to stand up straight, and she immediately began wiping her hands off on that final cloth. "It's a nice change of pace for me."

Krillen turned tomato red and looked away. "Um," he nervously began, desperately trying to swallow some spit, "you're…welcome?"

Again, Bulma giggled. "You're a nice guy," she sincerely praised. With a happy sigh, she turned to her project. "Okay, want to see if we got this thing running?"

"_We_?" the tiny teen retorted. "Bulma, you did everything. I just handed you stuff."

The blue haired genius shrugged. "You handing me the tools I needed helped me get this done infinitely faster than I could have done alone," she confessed. "And let's face it, you were the only one up to the task. Poor Chi-Chi's been throwing up since Goku spun her, Goku's helping Chi-Chi, and Vegeta's out trying to get us more supplies." With a grin, she turned to her new friend. "You want the honors?"

Krillen shook his head. "You did the work, you get the glory."

With a nervous smile, Bulma leaned forward and turned the knob. A few moments of silence passed, and the two teenagers waited with baited breath. Slowly, Bulma extended her hands. "You feel that?" she asked.

Krillen reached out and opened up his hands. Grinning ear to ear, he looked up at his comrade. "Son of a bitch, you did it!"

"Did what?" a weak voice asked.

The two of them turned around to see a very pale Chi-Chi leaning on the frame. "Oh, honey, you shouldn't be standing!" Bulma quickly said, rushing to the dark haired girl. "Come, come, you need to get off your feet, get comfortable, and tell me what you need." Bulma quickly looked around. "Where's Goku?"

Chi-Chi made her way to the lone futon with Bulma's assistance. "Cleaning out the bucket," she groaned. "And all I think I need is a little ginger ale and to find out what you did."

"Here," Krillen intervened, handing over a cup. He had gotten used to Chi-Chi's post morning sickness phases, and he was always prepared when possible. "Take little sips."

For once in her life, the dark haired girl was too weak to argue. "So, Bulma," she softly asked, taking a tiny sip, "what did you do?"

Bulma smiled as she began to fix Chi-Chi's messy hair. "I got the stove and the oven working," she gently answered. "I think it would be best if we left the oven on for an hour or so to help warm the place up. It could do you a world of good."

Barely moving her head, Chi-Chi nodded. She weakly brought her hand up to Bulma's and gave it a squeeze. "I don't know how we ever got along without you."

Bulma chuckled. "Don't thank me yet," she replied. "I still haven't had a chance to fix the fridge, and the room hasn't warmed up. When it's over sixty degrees in here, you can thank me."

The doorknob turned quickly, and a happy Goku walked in. "Hey, Chi-Chi, how are you?"

The girlfriend cracked an eye open. "Still alive," she responded, "and wondering how you went down with a bucket full of my innards and seem to be returning with a grocery bag…"

From behind the enormous teenager, Vegeta growled. "Get the hell out of my way!" Angrily, he stomped his way in and slammed the empty bucket in the corner. "How the hell do I always end up being the one to carry that damn thing?"

"Hey, man," Krillen asked, getting to his feet, "what did you get?"

Goku opened up the bag and pulled out a handful of small things. "Actually, Vegeta got this. I just ran into him downstairs and got curious. Honestly, I have no idea what this is."

"That's why I didn't get it for you," Vegeta sneered. "Hand them over to the blue haired bitch. She'll know what to do with them."

Offering the room a mild shrug, Goku placed the parts into the bag and did as ordered. When Bulma looked down in the bag, her face lit up.

"This is perfect!" she praised. "Now I can get the refrigerator fixed!"

A small cheer went up from the group, and Bulma immediately found herself being hugged by Goku and Krillen, with the still slightly nauseous Chi-Chi offering her support with a gentle pat on the ankle. Bulma glowed with delight as she hugged them back. She had a new home, new friends, and access to her basic needs.

Perhaps things would not be so bad after all.


	5. Chapter 5

Bulma woke up from her makeshift bed and stretched out. It had been almost a month since she had arrived, and she was actually getting used to her new way of life. She had even started to form habits and a routine.

Back when she had lived in a house with her parents, Bulma had hated waking up early in the mornings. Finding inspiration to get out of bed was difficult back then. But in her new environment, the blue haired girl had more than enough motivation to get her body out of bed around the crack of dawn.

The boys got out to hunt for work within half an hour of the sun rising, and Chi-Chi insisted on being the one to prepare their breakfast. At first, Bulma had thought that it was just a part of the brunettes control freak tendencies, but it did not take long for her to figure out that Chi-Chi was the only person on the face of the Earth who could take the basic foods they had and actually make it taste good. And Bulma also learned quickly that if she slept in passed that time, she did not get breakfast.

The more time passed, the bigger Chi-Chi got. In the first week of her sixth month, the teenager was needing more and more help to get her chores and work done. Having a working stove and oven made certain things easier, but being that pregnant and slightly malnourished was really taking a toll on the brunette. Nausea, cravings, near severe exhaustion and mind splitting headaches seemed to be regular occurrences, leaving her down for most of the day.

As such, Bulma found herself in charge of many things that the other girl had previously taken care of. While she rarely cooked, something the boys were grateful for, she did the cleaning and mending. Each teenager had precious few clothing items, all of which had to last them quite some time. Any time something got torn or wore thin, which seemed to be every day, the garment got patched together. Between all of that and caring for the oft ill Chi-Chi, Bulma found very little time to relax.

Whenever she did, though, she took advantage of various things that had been abandoned in some of the other rooms of the building. Many former tenants of the apartment complex had left things behind. Bulma enjoyed hunting through them, searching for things that worked, things that only needed a few repairs for work, and things that, while unusable as a whole, could be salvaged for parts.

That day, as she ate her oatmeal for breakfast, Bulma studied her latest project. She had been scrounging for things she could use to make a sort of water heater, but she was starting to get frustrated. They could obtain hot water without it just fine, but it took far too long for her tastes. Water had to be fetched from the spigot in the basement, brought up to their room, poured into a saucepan, and heated on the stove. What Bulma hoped to achieve was a stationary water heater that they could fill with approximately fifty gallons at a time, allowing them regular access without taking thirty minutes. If her figures were correct, they would only have to refill it once every week or so.

"So," Krillen spoke as he ate his breakfast, "when do you think you'll get that thing working?"

Bulma huffed and put the part she had been studying aside. "Probably not for at least another week," she admitted. "I've had to build most of it from scratch since it has to be an electric model, not a gas one. I've been able to find a lot of things I would need, but not all of it. And I'm working mostly off of theory on this one. I've never actual built a water heater before."

The shortest of the teens shrugged. "There's no rush," he assured. "Hell, we never used on before."

It was true, they had never had quick access to hot water before. But Bulma sensed that they would need it badly, and soon. It was September already, and it had not taken a genius to figure out that Chi-Chi would be giving birth in the middle of a cold winter. Without hot water, keeping that baby alive was going to be extremely difficult.

"I'll get it done," she firmly stated, more so to herself than anyone else. "I'll get it done soon."

"Oh!" Goku interrupted, accidentally spraying the others with bits of his breakfast. "Today we find out if we got that big job in the Keller district!"

"Yes," Vegeta responded with a glare, "but we certainly won't get it if we are late getting to the site, so hurry up!"

Krillen and Goku both made quick work of their food. The Keller district was in one of the nicest parts of town. Most of the residents could afford 'legit' help, but a few tried to save a buck or two by picking up freelance workers like the boys. The job Vegeta spoke of was for a fairly wealthy family, and it promised to pay extremely well. It was arduous labor that was being asked of them, but the family promised to pay almost a thousand dollars for the three of them to do two weeks of it.

It would be the biggest pay day they had ever received.

Krillen literally hopped into his shoes, heading out the door, as Goku shrugged in to his well worn jacket. "Wish us luck!" the tall boy called out. A grin lit up his face as he offered a wave and disappeared out the door behind the others.

Chi-Chi sighed as soon as the door closed. "I really hope they get it."

Bulma frowned as she looked over at the pregnant girl. The brunette did not look good. "Chich, go sit down," she softly commanded. "I'll clean up here."

"No, it's okay," the other girl tried to insist.

Bulma gave her a stern but concerned look. "Honey," she quietly said, "you're paler than usual, and that's scaring me a little bit. Can you do me a favor and take the morning off? If you don't, I'm just going to be a basket case all day."

Again, Chi-Chi sighed. There was very little in life she hated more than relinquishing control, but even she had to admit that she felt a lot worse than usual. "Okay," she eventually admitted. "I think I'll go take a nap."

As the pregnant girl walked away, Bulma frowned. Granted, she had wanted Chi-Chi to get some rest, but that was too easy. The brunette had never surrendered that quickly before, and the fact that it had only taken a mild protest to get her to back down just worried Bulma more. Chi-Chi had not been keeping what little food she ate down, her skin was extremely pale, and she seemed to be losing strength by the day.

Bulma shook her head, trying her hardest not to dwell on things beyond her control. Without money for a doctor, anything short of a life threatening emergency would just have to be dealt with in their tiny apartment.

She focused her energies on cleaning up and thoughts of her project. Suddenly, building that water heater seemed a lot less stressful…

/////

The boys sat in the back of a very nice truck, riding to their new job. Goku and Krillen talked jovially with one another, both overjoyed with the way the day was going. The family had originally wanted to pay them only at the end of the entire job, two weeks down the road, but Vegeta had managed to negotiate pay at the end of each day's work. The people they were working for were not thrilled with the concept, but the usually temperamental teen had managed to very calmly point out that it was a sign of mutual trust, and thus going to get top quality work.

Vegeta watched the scenery fly by as they entered the suburban part of town. While things seemed to be on the up and up, he could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. He did not know what, but the feeling continually nagged at the back of his mind.

/////

Bulma wiped the sweat from her forehead. She had already cleaned the dishes, cleaned the counters, swept and mopped the floor, and sewn up all the torn clothes. The clock she had fixed up her first week there indicated that it was almost three in the afternoon. With several hours left in the day, Bulma figured it would be okay to spend a little time working on her personal project before washing the clothes.

As she pulled out her tool kit, Bulma sent a nervous glance over at the sleeping brunette. Since Chi-Chi had gone down for her 'nap' nine hours earlier, she had only been awake for about an hour. Chi-Chi's skin had an unnatural pallor to it, and she had been whimpering a lot in her sleep. The two times she had gotten up she had vomited, and a layer of sweat had started to form on her ghastly skin.

With a nervous sigh, Bulma dropped her screwdriver and grabbed a washcloth. She dipped it gently in the water bucket before pressing it gently against Chi-Chi's forehead. "Honey, can you hear me?"

Chi-Chi whimpered, turning against the cool compress.

"Chi-Chi?" Bulma asked again, her own heart beat raising. "Chi-Chi, you're scaring me a little bit, so I need you to wake up right now and let me know that you're okay."

The brunette's eyes fluttered open, but only briefly. "Bulma?" she muttered.

"Yeah, it's me," she reassured. "How do you feel?"

Another moan escaped Chi-Chi's throat. "Thirsty…"

Bulma nodded and scurried to her feet, quickly getting a cup of water for her friend. "Here you go," she softly said, handing over the drink. "How are you? I mean, other than thirsty?"

The pregnant girl hissed and rolled her head to the side. "It…it hurts…" she confessed. "Not all the time, but…"

Bulma's heart rate skyrocketed. "How long have these pains been coming?"

"Couple hours," Chi-Chi mumbled. "But they're not that bad. I've been able to sleep through most of them."

The blue haired teen frowned as she remoistened the cloth. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it was that big a deal," Chi-Chi replied. "Lots of women get contractions months before they go into labor. It hurts, but not really bad, and I really wanted to get some sleep."

A concerned look crossed Bulma's features. She softly grabbed the pregnant girl's shoulders and guided her so that she was laying flat on her back. "How often are these pains happening?" she asked, fighting to keep her fear out of her voice.

Chi-Chi groaned and tried to roll on her side. "I really don't know." When Bulma stopped her, Chi-Chi moaned, "Please let me move, my lower back is killing me."

But Bulma held firm. "I'm sorry, sweetie," she softly said, "but I need to do this." She placed her hands on the swollen abdomen and pressed gently, feeling the tender muscles inside. About a minute later, the entire abdominal cavity seemed to go ridged.

With a grimace, Bulma thought back to what she had learned about pregnancy. It took all of her willpower to keep Chi-Chi in a position that was clearly uncomfortable for the girl, but she absolutely had to know if her theory was right. Bulma's eyes stayed glued to the clock as she kept her hands on the swollen belly, waiting to see if another contraction hit.

Ten minutes later, it did.

"Okay," she said, gently but firmly, "we're going to the hospital."

Chi-Chi, still groggy, shook her head. "We don't have any money."

"Doesn't matter," Bulma firmly stated. "Chi-Chi, I think you're in premature labor. If we don't get you to the hospital _now_, both you and the baby might die."

That woke her up, at least as far as she could. "Oh, dear…"

Bulma pulled Chi-Chi to her feet. "It's okay," she said in the most reassuring tone she could muster. "We're going to get you to the hospital and they're going to take care of you. You and the baby." She kept one arm on the pregnant girl as she reached for the nearest jacket and tossed it over Chi-Chi's shoulders. "Just take it one step at a time and you're going to be just fine."

Chi-Chi nodded, but she wasn't sure she believed it. Even in her hazy mind, she could tell something was very wrong.

Very, very wrong.


	6. Chapter 6

Goku wiped the sweat from his brow as he watched the setting sun. "Whew!" he exclaimed. "We got a lot done!"

"Yeah!" Krillen enthusiastically agreed, sheathing his hedge clippers. He looked up as his tall friend and watched the teenager slide down the ladder and off the roof. They had been working since seven in the morning, and with the exception of the half hour they took off for lunch, they had worked nonstop until that moment at almost six thirty. They were tired, they were sweaty, and they were starving, but they had gotten a great day's work done.

As the two of them began to put all the tools away, Vegeta approached the man that hired them. "We're almost cleaned up," he calmly stated.

The man smiled at the teenager and nodded, reaching for his wallet. "I must say," he admitted, "you three boys do marvelous work. You got more done today than any other crew I've hired could get done in three." With a grin on his face, he placed three hundred and fifty dollars in Vegeta's outstretched hand.

It was not often that Vegeta was rendered speechless, but that moment certainly did. When they took the job, it had been agreed upon that the boys would work for seventy five dollars a day, yet there he was, holding significantly more than that. Almost a minute later, he looked from the cash in his hand up at the man that paid him, a confused look on his face.

The man simply continued to smile. "Don't worry, I didn't miscalculate. You three did such a great job that I decided to throw in a fifty dollar tip."

From behind Vegeta, Krillen whistled. "Whoah, how did we get that much? I thought it was only going to be a hundred bucks a day!"

"That's right," the man said. "One hundred dollars a day each for ten days of work."

"_Each_?" Krillen practically gasped. "I thought it was total!"

The man's smile faltered, and he blinked in confusion. "Well that just would be wrong!" he replied, clearly shocked. "I actually wish I had more I could pay you! You're working far under minimum wage as it is!"

"Well, of course we are," Goku laughed, coming up behind his shorter friends. "It's not like anyone can actually hire us for _real_."

Vegeta kicked his leg backward, clipping Goku in the shin. The last thing he wanted to do was risk losing the fantastic offer they had been given because they suddenly looked incompetent.

The man simply shook his head. "I still think it's a shame you boys don't have an education. You seem to have proven that you're quite capable young men. I think if you went back to school, you guys could go pretty far."

Krillen smiled up at the man. "Thanks for the support," he sincerely had.

The man nodded. "Well, you boys probably need a ride home, don't ya? Let me give you a lift."

Vegeta looked warily toward the truck they had arrived in. He knew that there might become an issue if someone outside of the group knew where they actually lived. "You only need to take us back to the spot you picked us up from."

Though the man wanted to protest, he could tell that the boys would only accept a ride that far. "Okay then, boys. Hop on in!"

/////

Some time later, the three exhausted boys reached their home. A full day's work followed by a two mile walk from the drop off point to the abandoned apartments left all three of them barely strong enough to make it all the way up the stairs to their room.

Goku shoved the door open. "Chi-Chi, Bulma, we're home!"

Before he could wait for a reply, Vegeta was shoving his way to the front. "Why aren't any of the lights on?" he demanded.

Goku shrugged, but Krillen seemed to get nervous. "I don't know," he nervously answered. "It's totally black in here…"

"Chi-Chi?" Goku called out again, shoving his way once again past Vegeta to get further in to the apartment. "Chi-Chi, where are you?"

Vegeta turned on their light, and all three boys immediately began to tear through the rooms for any clue to where the girls might be. "Where they hell are the bitch and the harpy?" he growled.

"I don't get it," Goku anxiously said. "Chi-Chi hasn't left the apartment in a month! She hasn't even been able to leave the room very much because of her morning sickness! Where could they be?"

As the others began to think of other possible places the two could be, Vegeta noticed an anomaly on the closed front door. "What the hell…" He snatched at the note that he saw, and grimaced slightly as he realized that it had been held to the door with chewed gum. Before he could comment, though, he read the note.

"Oh, shit," he whispered. "Goku! Krillen! Haul ass, we need to go!"

"What is it?" Krillen asked, his heart beating a mile a minute. "What's it say?"

Vegeta looked at Goku, and a rare look of sympathy crossed his features as he glanced at the tall teen. "Bulma took Chi-Chi to the hospital. She thinks something's wrong."

All of the color drained from Goku's face. "Oh, God," he whispered. His breathing came in short, quick bursts. "Which…"

"42nd Street hospital," Vegeta finished, opening the door again. Like a shot, Goku bolted out and began to take the stairs, five at a time. Close on his heels, Vegeta followed him, and Krillen brought up the rear.

Goku's feet pounded on the pavement as he tore down the streets. It was seven whole blocks to the hospital, but he was going to sprint every step of the way. The sun had already set, and in the cool of the night, the overcast clouds from the day began to let the rain fall.

Rain and sweat poured off of all three of them as they continued to run as hard as they could. Goku's long legs stretched out and moved faster and faster, leaving the other two further behind. Vegeta fought to keep up, determined to match the other teen stride for stride, and did a decent job, but even he found himself falling back. Krillen stood little hope at all of keeping up.

The tallest of the teenagers rounded one final corner, the hospital finally within his view. He clipped a fire hydrant with his ankle and sprawled on his way to the ground. His temple grazed the hydrant, splitting it open.

It took several seconds for him to gain his bearings again, which was enough time for Vegeta to catch up. "Here," he grunted, hauling the taller teen to his feet.

Goku wiped some of the blood away from his eyes, but the second he was upright, he was running again. Every few seconds he had to clear his left eye of the blood that poured into it, but he did not slow down.

He burst into the hospital, sprinting straight for the nearest nurse. "I need help," he panted.

"Oh, my!" the nurse gasped. "I should say so! Here, sit down, sweetie. I'll get you something for that right away!"

"What?" Goku asked, his adrenaline still running high. "No, not for me! My girlfriend was brought in!"

"Sir, I can't let you in there with an open wound," the nurse calmly explained. "It's not safe for you _or_ anyone else in there. Now just wait here for one minute and…"

"No!" he cried out. "The note said that she was in trouble! I need to see her! I need to see her now!"

Goku suddenly found himself being shoved into a waiting chair. "Sit!" Vegeta commanded.

"But…"

Vegeta clamped a hand over the other teen's mouth. "Look," he panted, clearly out of breath from the run, "they're not going to let you in dripping with blood, so do us all a favor and let them slap a band-aid on you now."

Goku started to get up again, but Vegeta placed a foot on Goku's chest and forced him back down. "Stay down." Krillen came running in, and Vegeta immediately turned to the tiny teen. "They won't let him in without that gusher covered up. The nurse is already getting a bandage, I'm sure he'll be up in two minutes, but I'm running ahead." He turned around and called out to a different nurse, "Chi-Chi Mau. What room?"

The little woman, who had been a little distracted by Goku's extremely bloody left side, squeaked as she got to action. Her fingers flew over the keyboard to get the information she needed. "Um, maternity, room 217."

He turned his gaze toward Krillen. "Keep him still until that gets covered."

"Right," Krillen gasped. He turned to Goku and tried to smile. "Wow, Vegeta wasn't kidding. Super Nurse is right here!"

The original nurse scurried up quickly, hauling a medical tray with her. "Here," she gently said. "Let's get you something for the pain." She reached onto a tray for a syringe, but she quickly found the tiniest of the boys blocking her.

"No needles," he whispered. "He's scared witless by them. Trust me, it'll be a lot more trouble than it's worth when he starts screaming and thrashing."

While the nurse thought it was foolish to forgo any pain treatment, she had been with enough people who were terrified of things to know that they could cause real damage when agitated. "Okay," she simply said, pulling out some bandages. "Here's the deal, kiddo. I'm going to put a few butterfly bandages on it, wrap your head with gauze, and tape it down. I will clean you off enough to let you see your girlfriend. You can go to her, but I will be meeting you up there to make sure that you get your own wounds _properly_ treated as soon as possible."

"But when can I see her?" Goku anxiously begged. When the woman only continued to quietly work, he began to bounce up and down in agitation. "Well?" he demanded. "How the hell long do I have to sit here before you'll let me see her?"

The nurse smiled and pulled back from the teenager. "You're patched. Go."

Goku did not need to be told twice. Once again, he was sprinting as hard as he could. He had been listening when Vegeta had gotten the room number, and he made a beeline for the staircase. He went up the stairs three at a time, not caring a bit that his leg muscles were screaming at him. Goku burst out of the door and took a moment to figure out exactly where he was. When he figured out which way to go, he was once again sprinting.

He came around a corner and skid to a halt. Bulma stood there, her arms wrapped around her body and tears quietly streaming down her face. Vegeta looked oddly pale and tense, though he was still breathing quite hard from the run.

Something was very, very wrong.

"Oh, God," Goku whispered. He quickly approached his friends. "What happened? How is she? Can I see her?"

Bulma's eyes grew wide as they landed on Goku. There was a bandage on his head, and traces of red were starting to come through. He was pale and sweating and looked like he would snap in a moment's notice.

She could not tell him.

Vegeta groaned, looking at the blue haired woman before shaking his head. "The doctor is with her now," he told Goku. "We can't go in just yet, but they should be done fairly soon."

"But…"

"Goku," Bulma interrupted, swallowing hard as she gathered her courage, "sit down."

The taller teen shook his head. "Tell me what…"

"I will," she gently assured him. "But…but I need you to sit down. For me, Goku, please."

Goku's body began to tremble. "Okay," he shakily agreed. He sat down in a chair that Krillen, who had joined them thirty seconds earlier, pulled up.

Bulma knelt down and took Goku's hand. She really wished that _anybody_ else could tell the big guy the news, but she was the only one so far that knew the whole story. Vegeta only knew about two minutes worth of it.

"Goku," she softly said, "Chi-Chi went into premature labor. They think it might have been caused by the fever that she has." She left out the information she had given about how a poor diet and stress also likely contributed to it.

It was not information that Goku needed. Not then.

"The doctors managed to stall it," she went on, "but they aren't sure if they can stall it for long. They're giving her corticosteroids, which is medicine which will help the baby develop as much as possible before he's born."

Tears rolled down Goku's face. "He?" he whispered. "I have a son?"

Bulma's heart broke, and she turned away. The situation was bad. Very bad. At best, the boy would be born with weak lungs and underdeveloped organs. They would need medicine and equipment they could never afford just to keep him alive for the first few months. Assuming the boy miraculously managed to live, he would likely be sickly for his entire life.

That was the best outcome.

The most likely one was that the child would die in the next day or two.

As Bulma tried to regain her composure, the doctor came out of the hospital room. Goku shot to his feet and rushed to the man, a desperate look in his eyes. "How is she?" he begged. "How's my girlfriend? How's my son?"


	7. Chapter 7

Goku sat in that hard, plastic hospital chair, rocking back and forth. His hands were clenched with one another and resting just beneath his chin as he stared at his girlfriend's pale, motionless body. The entire day had just been so surreal to him he was having a hard time believing that it was actually real.

Chi-Chi lay in a critical state. Her fever had broken a hundred and three degrees, and her body had certainly gone into the first stages of premature labor. Medication was flooding her system, simultaneously trying to save both mother and child. Labor had been stalled, but it would not likely hold long. The odds of Chi-Chi giving birth within the next few days were extremely high.

The odds of both mother and child surviving were extremely low.

Tears were quietly running down the tall teenager's face. "Oh, Chich, you have to be okay," he quietly said. "I don't know what I would do without you. You've been there in my life since we were kids. You've always been there for me. You have to be okay now."

Goku reached forward and grabbed his lover's hand and held it gently in his own. Tenderly, he gave it a kiss and rubbed his cheek along it. "Do you know that we're having a son?" he asked, chuckling through his tears. "I know that you were hoping for a girl, but I think you really will love having a boy. I mean, what could be more fun that having a little boy to play with? We could go play with him in the park, and we can get him little sneakers for him to run around in, and I can teach him how to play sports…I know you'll spoil him rotten, sweetie. He's going to be Mommy's special little guy."

Another chuckle escaped his throat, and he held on to the pale hand with both of his own. "You know, there are times that I think that you won't even let _me_ hold him," he joked. "I know you, Chich. I know you're going to get one look at our little boy, and you're just never going to let him go. You've just got so much love in you that I doubt anyone else is going to get any time with him."

He looked longingly at the girl he loved and held her hand even tighter. "You're going to be okay," he firmly stated. "You're going to be just fine. In just a few days, you and me and our son are going to be sitting at home, and Bulma's going to have that camera fixed, and we're going to take a million pictures of our family."

Goku pulled the uncomfortable chair he sat in closer and leaned his forehead against Chi-Chi's. "I know you'll be fine," he whispered. "You're the strongest girl I've ever met, and I don't just mean how, you know, freakishly strong you are when you're mad. I mean that you're always willing to put up a fight for the right thing, and you never, ever lose. That's how I know you'll be fine."

A few more tears trickled quietly down his cheeks, but Goku smiled, keeping his forehead against hers.

"You'll be fine."

/////

Krillen sighed and rested his chin in his hands. The benches in the waiting room were extremely uncomfortable, but it really was the least of concerns at the moment. Chi-Chi's condition was a secret to none of them, Goku would clearly not be going back to work as long as she was in that state, and as every minute passed he could not help but think about how much money the entire hospital stay was going to cost.

It was going to be more than they would ever have.

He also could not help but notice just how agitated Vegeta seemed to be. The taller of the two was leaning against a wall, quietly clicking the nails from his thumb and middle finger together over and over again. Krillen had known Vegeta long enough to know that it was a sign that he was stressed about as far as he could go without actually snapping.

Bulma came over and sat next to him. She, too, sighed as she tried to get comfortable. "How's it going?" she softly asked.

"Craptastic," he answered. "You?"

"About the same." The girl pulled the rubber band out of her long blue hair and shook it out. She ran her fingers through it a few times before sitting back against the wall. "I talked to a couple of the nurses. They normally don't let people sleep in the waiting room, but they're willing to make an exception since we're the closest thing to family Chi-Chi seems to have."

Bulma looked down at her hands, suddenly finding her knuckles very interesting. "I know you guys may not like this suggestion, but we may have to call Chi-Chi's parents."

Krillen shook his head. "Bulma, they made it very clear that they didn't want her to go home again. If they don't want her to live there, why would they come help her now?"

"Because she wasn't pregnant when she left," Bulma softly pointed out. "And I hate to say this, but don't you think it might be possible that when her parents told her to leave, it was one of those moment of passion things? Like, maybe they overreacted at the time, but they didn't really mean it?"

Again, Krillen shook his head. "Doubt it. No one lives like we do if there's a chance that there's going to be a place to actually live."

Bulma sighed and closed her eyes. "Damn," she whispered.

"I know." The shorter of the pair stretched out his legs. "I actually thought of that one about an hour ago when they told us how bad it was. I mean, there's no way we're going to be able to afford this."

"And even if we could afford the hospital," Bulma sadly pointed out, "there are a thousand expenses that a preemie racks up. Special medications, special sleeping equipment, special clothing…that list just goes on and on and on. And in our little apartment, in the cooling months…" She swallowed, trying to keep herself from crying. "I really don't know how the hell we're going to pull this off."

"We will find a way."

They both looked over to Vegeta, a little surprised that he had commented. "How?" Bulma asked.

The clicking of Vegeta's nails got louder. "I've only had an hour, you idiot. I don't have it figured out yet. But we have always managed to overcome every problem we've had. There is always a solution."

Bulma wanted to argue with him, to say that sometimes, there was not an answer. But for once, she just could not bring herself to fight with him. The entire day had been so exhausting that she honestly did not have the strength.

"I asked one of the nurses if she could make sure we were up by five," she opted to mention. "That way you guys won't be late."

Krillen's eyes grew enormous. "Oh, God, the job…"

"We just have to work harder tomorrow," Vegeta firmly stated. The pace of the clicking picked up. "We'll just have to prove that we can do the job with the two of us. He's going to be in no shape to do anything tomorrow."

That was going to be no easy task. Goku was the biggest and the strongest of the three of them. A lot of the jobs that involved heavy lifting were left to him because his size made him the only one who could do them alone, leaving the other two free for other tasks. Vegeta certainly possessed the strength to do most of them, but he was so much smaller than he could not always get a good grip.

Without him on the job, there was virtually no way for them to get all of their work done by the deadline.

Vegeta pushed himself away from the wall. "I'm going back to our place. I'll meet you here in the morning." Without waiting for any form of response, he left the sterile halls of the hospital and went home.

Bulma blinked in surprise. "Well that was odd," she stated.

"Not really," Krillen assured. "I'm actually surprised he lasted this long." He looked over at Bulma, a serious look on his face. "Vegeta is not what you might call a fan of hospitals."

"Lots of people hate hospitals," Bulma pointed out. "They're not exactly a place people go if they can avoid it."

Krillen sighed as he crossed his legs underneath his little body. "Yeah, but the last time Vegeta was in one was when he got put in the system."

That definitely caught Bulma off guard. "What happened?"

Krillen opened his mouth, paused, and closed it again. He took a deep breath before responding, "You know, it's really not my place to say. If he wants you to know, he'll tell you. If he doesn't, he'll kill me for telling you." Once again he stretched out, trying to work out the fairly intense soreness that ran through his body. A full day of physical labor followed by hospital chairs did not do wonders for one's comfort level.

"It could be worse," he went on with a laugh. "He could be scared to death of needles like Goku is."

Bulma raised her eyebrow. "He's that scared of them? Why?"

"Mystery of the universe," Krillen chuckled. "Big strong Goku is, for no known reason, beyond terrified of needles. That's why any time you see a nurse or doctor or something go in that room, it's your job to make sure Goku isn't looking as they do whatever they do."

The eighteen year old girl swallowed hard. "I need to come up with a way to distract Goku _every_ time someone checks on her? How…"

"Don't worry," Krillen assured her, "he'll know that you're distracting him. He's the first to admit that it's his big fear, and he also knows damn well that he'll have a meltdown if a needle is pulled out anywhere near him. You don't need to make up a story or anything. You just need to get in before the nurse does and make sure he's facing the wall. Maybe say something nice to him. You don't need to put on a show."

At that moment, a nurse began to approach the door. "I'll get this one," the tiny teen said, quickly hopping to his feet. "I'll let him know that you'll be here if he needs you, too." He scurried in front of the nurse, gave her the short version of the needle situation, and slid in to the room.

Out in the hallway, Bulma lay down on the bench and stared at the ceiling, contemplating their situation. Knowing that Goku _needed_ to be distracted ruled out the only other potential plan she'd had: offering to go in his place to the work site. She was not nearly as strong as the boys were, and she was not experienced with all aspects of that work, but if the family needed things like a heating system fixed or they needed programming done, she could get it set in a hurry.

Perhaps she could talk with the nurses again about staying on Goku duty. They had been more than kind to her since she had brought Chi-Chi in, and if they knew the situation, they might be able to help. Maybe she could free herself up and see if the family would accept technical work in exchange for slower manual labor. Then, if nothing else, they could still get the money…

Money…even if they really did earn three thousand dollars at the end of the job, there was no way it would cover the costs of what was going on. Just spending the night in the hospital would cost at least twice that.

She shook her head. Even if, by some miracle, everything in the hospital turned out alright, they were still screwed. There were too many factors that they just would not be able to accommodate. There were too many ways things could go wrong. There were just too many things that needed to be done that they would never be able to pull off.

How were they possibly going to make everything alright?


	8. Chapter 8

Krillen came out of the room, a serious look on his face. The nurse had been in there for almost ten whole minutes, and the tray she had brought in had needles all over it. Getting Goku to stand and face a wall for a minute while a nurse drew blood was easy. Keeping him from turning around at all for all that time was borderline impossible.

While in there, he and Goku had both asked dozens of questions. Why was she still unconscious? When is the baby going to be born? Is the baby healthy? Can the baby be healthy if he's born now? When will we know? A thousand worries had been voice in that room, and almost all of them was met with a quiet "We'll see," from the nurse.

With an exhausted sigh, the tiny teenager flopped down again on the hard hospital bench. It was nearing one in the morning, and Krillen was well beyond tired.

From the plastic chair across from him, Bulma gave him a sympathetic look. "You really should get some rest," she softly said.

"I know," Krillen yawned. "I've got to be up in, like, four hours if I'm going to be able to get to the job."

Bulma bit down softly on her lower lip. "Yeah, about that…" she began. "I was thinking that maybe I could go in Goku's place tomorrow to make sure you guys won't be short handed."

Krillen closed his eyes and lay back. "Look Bulma," he muttered, "I don't want to sound mean or anything, but you can't do the same work Goku does."

"What, just because I'm a girl, I can't do hard work?" the former heiress fought.

A tired sigh escaped Krillen as he forced his body up. Bulma was using a tone that clearly meant that their conversation was going to take a while. "I didn't say that," he calmly defended as he sat up. "None of us can do the work Goku does. He's enormous compared to all of us, and the strongest to boot. Hell, he's at _least_ six foot two, and the next tallest one is Vegeta, who's only five foot four!"

"I'm only a half inch shorter than Vegeta," Bulma countered, "and I'm several inches taller than you are."

"Size is only part of it," Krillen went on. "The other guys and I have been doing rough work since we were kids. We've got calluses on our hands, we're used to moving heavy things, and don't take this the wrong way, but even _I'm _twice as strong as you are. We know what we're doing, and you just don't have the experience."

Again, Bulma bit down on her lip. Krillen's points were all valid. "Well, maybe I won't be so much help with the heavier stuff," she admitted, "but maybe they've got wiring or plumbing or something that I could do. After all, that's what I do best…"

Krillen seemed to consider it for a moment. It was true, that girl had proven herself time and again to be nothing shy of brilliant when it came to programming and building things. And without Goku there, there was no way in hell for all of the work to get done. If nothing else, perhaps Bulma's skills could be thrown in as some form of perk for an extension on time.

"It might work," he slowly responded. "But what are we going to do about Goku's needle thing? If neither one of us is here, then how…"

"I already talked to the nurses at the station," Bulma quietly said. "I explained his fear, I explained how bad it is, and I asked if there was any way they could help with it. They already agreed to send someone in before the tray enters to make him turn around, and they'll ask him to leave the room completely before a longer stay."

That helped wake the tinier teenager up. "They really agreed to all of that?"

Bulma offered a mild shrug. "They seemed familiar with the concept of someone with Blenophobia." When Krillen raised an eyebrow at her, Bulma gave a slight eye roll. "That's fancy pants for a severe fear of needles."

"Every once in a while," Krillen said, stretching out his sore muscles, "I really do forget that you're well educated. I mean, no one else graduated from high school. Hell, Vegeta and I technically only went as far a junior high!"

For some reason, Bulma had not considered that before. She knew that the two of them had essentially broken out of foster care at some point in the past, but she had never actually asked how old they had been. "You guys don't strike me as the type to only have a junior high level of education," she responded. "Especially Vegeta…"

Krillen actually laughed at the statement. "First of all, thank you. It's nice to know that I don't sound like the twelve year old I was when I dropped out. And second of all, and don't tell him that I told you this, but I think Vegeta's kind of a closet nerd."

Bulma's eyes bugged out. "You're kidding me!"

"Nope!" Krillen chuckled. "Some times, when he disappears down the hallway in a mood, he's sitting in an abandoned room with a book. I think it helps him, you know, escape."

"Escape from what?" Bulma asked. "I mean, you and Goku are in the same situation, and you guys seem to be doing just fine."

The short boy shook his head. "It's different for him," he quietly responded, his voice suddenly serious. "His situation actually isn't like me and Goku as much as you might think. And I know we always talk about Goku being the big strong one and everything, but Vegeta's really the one that's kept us alive. When things get hard, I mean, _really_ hard, he's the one that gets us through, and I know that it stresses him out a lot." He looked away and folded his hands in his lap. "I know he went back to the apartment, but I'd bet every penny we don't have that he's wide awake and trying to figure this whole mess out."

The blue haired girl's lip quivered as she once again found herself thinking about their dire situation. "I need to go with you guys tomorrow," she said in a soft but firm voice. "I don't know how much I can do to help, but a little is better than nothing. I may not speed you guys up a lot, but every little bit counts at this point."

Krillen nodded in agreement. "I'll talk to Vegeta," he replied, getting to his feet. "Talking him into this isn't going to be easy, but I think I can do it." Once more, he stretched out his tired arms, and he turned to look at Bulma one more time. "Do you know the guys and I usually go for pick up?"

"Same place you guys look for work?" she asked.

"The same," Krillen affirmed. "Can you meet us there at sunrise?"

Bulma glanced down the well enclosed hospital hallway and frowned. "How am I going to know when sunrise is?"

"You're smart, you'll figure it out," Krillen genuinely replied. "Anyway, I'm going to head back. It's going to take at least a half hour just to convince Vegeta that it's smart to bring you with us, and I was really hoping to get at least _some_ sleep before my next shift."

Bulma nodded. "Thanks, Krillen."

"No prob!" the tiny teen called out as he headed around the corner and back toward their home.

/

"That's not a good idea," Vegeta snipped, pacing the room. "She has no experience, she's ridiculously weak, and we need to have someone stable at the hospital."

"It's the only think we could think of, Vegeta," Krillen softly argued. "She might be a great bargaining chip."

Vegeta began to click his nails again, his pacing not slowing a moment. Yes, the woman's gifts with electronics might actually be useful, but he was really hoping to keep her in the hospital. Chi-Chi's condition could change at any moment, and in all honesty, he did not believe that Goku really understood the situation at hand. While there was no doubt that the largest of them knew that the situation was bad, Vegeta doubted that Goku truly comprehended _how_ bad it was. Any time the doctors and nurses talked to him, Goku tended to nod along in a way that Vegeta recognized as a sign more so of politeness than true understanding.

It had been his hope that there was some way to keep Bulma there. She was more than intelligent enough to discuss things with the medical staff. She was reliable enough to make the right decision if a tough call had to be made. Her mind was an invaluable asset, and she should be there where the problem was at its worst.

"I don't like it," he grumbled.

Krillen sat down on the floor, his energy ready to give out on him completely. "You got anything better?" he tiredly challenged.

Vegeta stopped his walking, grabbed a book, and threw it at his oldest friend, nailing him in the shoulder. "Do I look like I'm in the mood for that?"

"No," Krillen groaned, rubbing his sore shoulder, "but did you have to throw the dictionary?"

"Oh, quit your complaining," the elder teen sneered. "It was the student edition, not the big one."

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," Krillen mumbled. "So is she in or is she out?"

The moodier of the pair growled. "We need her at the hospital," he argued. "Goku can't make a hard decision and Chi-Chi's out cold. We need to have her there."

Krillen groaned, wishing desperately that he could just convince his friend and hit the hay. "But don't we need as much help as we can get at the site?" he honestly asked. "We already agreed to get a huge load of work done in ten days. How do we know that we're not going to get dropped if he knows we can't pull it off?"

"I don't!" Vegeta shouted back. "Okay? I don't _know_ how this is going to play out yet! I don't _know_ if the guy's willing to take tech work for time! I don't _know_ if Chi-Chi's going to be alright, okay? I don't _know_!"

Vegeta sighed in a failed attempt to soothe his nerves and ran his fingers through his hair. "I still don't like this," he growled, "but you're right. We don't have any other viable options. We'll ask the guy in the morning if he's willing to take the deal." In an attempt to vent his frustration, the teenager punched the wall hard enough to crack it slightly.

Krillen winced at the sound it made. "Feel better?" he asked.

"Go to hell," Vegeta hissed, shaking out his slightly bloody hand.

"Maybe some other time," Krillen responded with a yawn. "Bulma's going to meet us at the pick up spot at sunup, and I'm going to bed right now." He lay down and grabbed a blanket, pulling it around his tired out body. "See you in the morning."

Vegeta sat down in the corner, a blank look on his face as he cradled his hand. "Good night," he quietly responded. He did not fall asleep, though. There were too many things going on, too many problems that did not have good solutions. His hand throbbed, his head hurt, and the stress was almost unbearable. They did not have the resources to make their problems go away.

Tomorrow was going to be a miserable day.


	9. Chapter 9

"This is a terrible idea," Vegeta growled, looking away from the other two. It was only moments before the sun crested the hills on the far side of the valley, and the three teens were already at odds with one another. Not one of them had gotten an even remotely decent night's sleep, and they were all suffering from overbearing stress. It did not leave them in the mood for conversation.

It did, however, provide excellent grounds for bickering.

"Well, you didn't come up with anything better," the former heiress bit out.

When Vegeta whipped around, ready to retaliate, Krillen looked up at the blue haired beauty and shook his head. "That was low, Bulma," he softly said, "and you know it."

"Well, it's true," she snipped. "He didn't come up with a better idea, so he has no right to make fun of mine!"

"First of all, you pretentious little bitch," Vegeta snapped back, "I didn't say that I had a better idea. I just said that yours wasn't good. And you cannot stand there and tell me that abandoning Goku and Chi-Chi at the hospital was a fantastic idea, because I could ramble off at least ten reasons you would be dead wrong!"

Bulma placed her hands on her hips as she fully faced her opponent. "Why do you always have such a stick up your ass about everything?"

"Why is nothing anyone does ever good enough for you?" the boy countered.

"OH MY GOD, YOU TWO NEED TO SHUT UP!" Krillen screamed.

The other two teenagers froze immediately, both shocked by their friend's outbreak. "Krillen…" Bulma softly began.

The tiny teenager did not let her get any further than that. "No, don't even start up again!" he shouted. "I am so sick of listening to the two of you always fighting with each other! I am so sick of you blaming each other for everything! I can't _stand_ it when you guys do this, and I _really_ can't take it that you're still doing it when we have more important things to worry about than who did what wrong!"

Bulma and Vegeta exchanged a glance over their small friend. "He's right," she admitted.

"We will focus on the job at hand," the teenaged boy consented.

The next few minutes were passed in an extremely uncomfortable silence. They were all exhausted. Not one of them had gotten more than an hour's worth of sleep the night before, and the stress was more than any of them could handle.

In the distance, a nice truck headed for the trio. "Finally," Vegeta muttered under his breath. "Let's just get this done and over with."

It only took two minutes for the truck to be directly in front of them. "Well, howdy!" the gentleman behind the wheel said. "It looks like we've got some new blood here today." The man hopped out of the truck, smiled, and extended a hand for the young woman before him. "And you are?"

"Bulma," former heiress softly spoke. "My name is Bulma."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Bulma," the man politely responded. He glanced around quickly and quirked an eyebrow. "If you don't mind my asking, where's the big guy that was with you yesterday?"

Bulma looked at the ground. "His girlfriend is in the hospital," she quietly responded. "He's with her right now."

"Oh," the man gently spoke. "I'm sorry to hear that." He seemed to consider something for a moment. "With all due respect, young lady, most of what I have for these guys to do is rough. Do you think you're up to the task?"

Bulma quickly nodded her head. "I'm happy to help in any way that I can," she swiftly answered. "I may not be as strong as the guys are, but I assure you that I have skills in other areas that are invaluable."

The man nodded. "Well, I'm sure you wouldn't be here if you didn't think you could be of service," he assured. "Hop on in the truck and I'll get you guys to the house."

Not one word was spoken the entire ride there.

/

Goku kept his face toward the wall. "Just tell me when it's over," he quietly told the nurse.

"Don't worry about it, kiddo," the nurse replied, finishing up her work. "You're not the first one who's wanted to look the other way. Now, I'm all finished up with the part you don't like, so you can turn back around."

The tall teenager slowly turned and cracked an eye open, still apprehensive that there might be a rogue needle out there. As soon as he was certain that there were none around, he turned all the way around. "Thanks," he gratefully said. "So, um…how is she?"

The nurse offered a sad smile. "Well, she's not getting better," she apologetically began, "but she's not getting any worse, either. She's still in a precarious state, but as long as she doesn't get any worse, we should be able to keep the child safe inside."

Goku nodded. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just stay by her side," the nurse assured. "The best thing anyone can do at a time like this is to stay nearby and tell them how much they are loved."

Again, Goku nodded. "Um, nurse?" he asked.

"Yes?"

The tall young man shifted uncomfortably. "Is she going to be asleep for a long time?"

The nurse gave the boy a pat on the shoulder. "She should be drifting in and out for a while," she explained, "but you'll probably have time to talk to her before lunchtime."

Goku looked longingly at his girlfriend and offered a quiet thanks, not even looking up as the nurse slid out of the room.

"She's right," he told her. "I do love you. I always have. That's why I always stayed with you, even when your parents kicked you out. That's why I chose to live on a bench instead of walking away from you."

He shook his head as he remembered those days that happened so long ago. "My folks told me that I could stay as long as I never saw you again," he recalled. "They really thought that I would stay with them. They really thought that I would walk away from you." He chuckled softly to himself. "I guess I showed them, huh?"

He stretched out slightly before holding his lover's hand. "Remember when we went back, two weeks later? We tried to get them to understand how much we love each other, but they kept telling us that we were kids, that we didn't know what love was.

"But this is love, Chi-Chi. This is real. If it wasn't, we would have given up a long time ago. We couldn't have found a way to survive this long if we weren't in real love. I wouldn't be here holding your hand if it wasn't real love. My parents just didn't get that. They thought it was just a crush, but you don't do this for a crush. And they were so stubborn about it that they wouldn't listen when I told them that I would do anything, anything at all, just to be with you. I don't know why, after all of that, they thought I was going to leave you and go back to them."

With sorrow in his eyes, Goku brushed Chi-Chi's hair behind her ear. "It would have been so easy to just walk away from you. I already had college's looking at me. I had a good home. I know that I could have gone really far if I had stayed behind.

"But you know what?" he went on. "It wouldn't have been worth it. I never would have been happy. I would have hated myself and hated my life. There's no way it was worth it. I'd rather spend the rest of my life living on the streets and scraping for food then ever live without you. So even if they offered me a chance to come back, I'd still stay no. You're my world, Chich. It's always been you."

From the bed, Chi-Chi finally began to stir. "Goku?" she weakly asked.

The tall teenager sat bolt upright. "Chich? Are you awake?" he eagerly asked.

The girl slowly opened her tired eyes. "What's going on? I…I remember that Bulma made me come in because…because…" All signs of exhaustion immediately disappeared from her face. "Oh God, the baby…!"

"The baby's okay," Goku quickly assured. "The baby hasn't been born yet. Bulma told me that she got you here in time to at least stall it for a while. It's okay."

"I'm still in the hospital?"

"Yeah," Goku whispered, nuzzling his girlfriend's neck. "We're keeping you here until the baby is born. It's the only way to be safe."

The exhausted girl shook her head. "But the money, Goku…"

"We'll find a way," he gently coaxed. "Vegeta, Krillen, and Bulma are all at the site right now. They're still earning money. And we've always managed to find a way to get by before. I'm not gonna let this be the first time we don't make it. So you don't worry about a thing, okay, honey?"

Chi-Chi continued to shake her head. "I don't feel good," she mumbled.

"I know, sweetie. I know." Goku kept nuzzling her gently, doing everything in his power to be reassuring. "They're taking amazing care of you, though. Bulma said so herself. They're not going to let anything happen to you. And neither will I."

The pregnant girl sighed as she was held by her love. "You are my angel," she whispered.

"And you're mine."

/

Bulma wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. Never, in her life, had she felt so exhausted. With barely any sleep and no dinner or breakfast at all, even the more simple physical tasks given to her were more than a mild strain to her frail body. She wanted to eat. She wanted to sleep. God help her, all she wanted to do at that moment was break down and cry until she fell unconscious.

But doing that meant abandoning her friends, and she refused to let them down. Without them, she never would have managed to survive as long as she had. As such, she absolutely refused to allow hunger and exhaustion slow her down. No matter how tempting it was.

"Come on," she grunted, digging the shovel again and again into the forming garden. "You can do this, girl. You can get through this. You're just a little tired. You can sleep on the car ride back."

"That's the spirit," Krillen chimed in. "Never give up!"

Bulma gave a two second smirk to her little friend. "Your mood seems to have improved," she commented.

"Well, you and Vegeta aren't trying to kill each other right now," he countered. "I'm sorry about this morning, but I just couldn't deal with the bitching. Now, well, you guys are both focusing on your work. That, Bulma, I can deal with."

The blue haired beauty gave her friend an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry about that," she sincerely said. "I've just been a little cranky."

"We all have," Krillen assured. "That's why I snapped, too."

"Well, it's nice to see that you're all getting along!" the elderly man called out, approaching the pair. "I think this calls for a celebration. Lunch time!"

It was at that moment that the pair realized their employer was holding a well loaded tray full of delicious looking foods. "Oh, wow!" Bulma drooled. "That looks fantastic!"

"Well, I can't let you kids go hungry, now, can I?" the man laughed. "The way I figure it, you're breaking your backs to handle all the chores that I've spent the last decade ignoring. The _least _I could do was make sure you're well fed!"

Even Krillen gawked at the tray. The day before, he had offered them a simple, but ample, lunch consisting of as many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as the boys could handle. It seemed that the gentleman had a chance to go grocery shopping. Layered sandwiches, sliced apples, carrots, yogurt, bananas, and potato chips.

It was more food than any of them had seen in a long, long time.

"I already told your friend if he didn't come eat in the next five minutes, I was going to cut his salary. After how long he took to take a break yesterday, I think it might be the only way to slow him down. Now," the gentleman said, placing the tray on his garden table, "as you take a moment to rest your bodies, please, tell me about Goku's girlfriend." He glanced over at Bulma with a great deal of seriousness in his eyes. "You told me she was in the hospital."

Bulma froze. She had not been in the group long, but she had been there long enough to understand how important it was to keep their lifestyle as private as possible. With the birth of Goku and Chi-Chi's son imminent, no one could know just how they managed to survive. That child would be taken away in a heartbeat.

But she could not think of anything to say.

Not without costing two of her dearest friends their son.


	10. Chapter 10

"We need to talk."

It was a phrase that never preceded anything good, and Vegeta knew it. "What happened?" he asked, coming down the ladder.

Krillen reached up and grabbed his old friend's arm, pulling him off the last few steps. "We have a problem."

"Yeah, I gathered that," Vegeta growled, dusting his hands off on his jeans. "What is it and how bad?"

The shorter teenager glanced over at the patio table where Bulma sat alone. "The old guy brought out lunch for us and asked what Bulma meant this morning when she said that Goku's girlfriend was in the hospital."

"Wait," Vegeta interrupted, "she said _what_ to him this morning?"

"I know!" Krillen hissed. "Apparently she told him while we were already climbing into the truck, and now the old guy wants to know details!"

The elder of the two boys lost a fair amount of color from his face. From the moment Krillen had told him that first bit of information, his mind had been on overdrive, trying to figure out possible scenarios. If Bulma had told the old man anything, anything at all, then tracing which hospital Chi-Chi was in would be fairly simple. Even if they lied about why she was there, all it took was for a kindly old man to want to drop in and wish best wishes to blow their cover. Clearly, the girl was pregnant. Clearly, the girl was in trouble. Clearly, they were of limited means.

He would have child services called in a heartbeat, and Goku and Chi-Chi would not stand a chance of keeping their son.

"Shit," he growled, running his hand across his mouth. He looked over at their blue haired companion and scowled. She was sitting alone, her hands on her lap and tears in her eyes. "How much did she say?"

"So far, nothing more than what she told him this morning," Krillen responded, quickly but quietly. "She totally froze when he questioned her, so he went in to get her ice water."

Vegeta jumped into gear. "Grab your stuff, we need to go."

Nodding, Krillen moved to grab his bag. Vegeta moved quickly to the patio table and jerked Bulma to her feet violently. "We're leaving."

Bulma gasped as she tried to gain her balance. "What…what are you talking about?"

"We're leaving," he repeated, hauling her away. "Right now. Move."

Even though she was not entirely certain what was going on, she knew how to respond to that tone. Her feet began moving, and she followed his lead as quickly as she could. In a matter of only a few seconds, Krillen was next to them, carrying what few materials they brought to the job site. As they approached the tall fence, Vegeta hopped on top and reached down. Krillen grabbed Bulma by her sides and moved her up just enough for the older boy to grab her, and they moved her up and over swiftly. Vegeta reached down again and offered his hand to his small friend. Krillen reached out and grabbed it and quickly scurried up the fence.

"You know, if you need to be somewhere, I could always give you a lift."

The two boys froze. Vegeta was still precariously balanced on top of the seven foot fence, and Krillen barely held on with one hand on top of the fence and the other on Vegeta's arm. They had been caught red handed trying to make a break for it.

The old man placed the tray of ice waters on the glass and shook his head. "Okay, kids, I'm going to make this as clear as I can. Come back over and tell me what's going on, or I'm afraid I'm going to have to assume the worst and call the authorities."

With panic in his eyes, Krillen looked up Vegeta. Neither of those scenarios sounded like they could end well to him, but he trusted his oldest friend to make the right call. That's the way it had always been between them, and it had served them well.

Vegeta hesitated for only a moment before lowering Krillen down near the old man. He stood up tall on the fence, looking down at the two on the other side.

"Hey, little help here?" Bulma called from the other side. "I can't get back over without a hand!"

The teenager on the fence looked over his shoulder and glared at her. "Walk around the block and get back to the gate on your own," he bit out. He was still mad at her for getting them into the situation in the first place, and he had a feeling that keeping her occupied for a few minutes would be a very, very good thing.

He jumped off the fence and landed smoothly, his arms crossed in a sign of defense. "Okay," he coolly spoke. "We'll stay here."

"Good," the man responded. "Now grab the tray of drinks and come inside the house with me. This half finished yard doesn't seem to be the place for this conversation."

Vegeta let out an extremely slow breath, strongly bothered by the situation. They were treading in dangerous waters, and he had a sinking feeling that things were going to be getting very intense for their group very quickly. After all, there was only so much fact manipulation one could get away with.

The two boys followed inside, with Krillen holding the drinks. As they were walking in, Vegeta made sure to note which windows faced the outside of the house. If he could sit so that he had visual access, and the old man did not, then he might be able to keep Bulma out of the conversation for a few extra minutes. They took their seats in what appeared to be a very nice living room, and Vegeta moved into his ideal position.

Their employer decided to start right away. "So Goku's girlfriend is in the hospital," he seriously said, "and you boys don't seem to want to talk about it. It must be fairly serious if he's going to miss work for it, and while I hope you don't take offense to my questions, I'm sure you understand why I have to ask them." He picked up one of the glasses and took a long, soothing drink. "Now, that does not make it seem like she's in there for something like a car accident or a fall down the stairs."

"If you are implying in any way that Goku hurt her," Vegeta quickly intervened, "you could not be more wrong."

Krillen nodded, following Vegeta's lead. He might not have been fantastic at coming up with the answers to their problems, but years of practice had made him a master at taking cues from Vegeta. "He's like a giant teddy bear," he supplied. "He would never hurt someone unless he was in a life or death situation."

The man nodded along. "From what I saw of the young man," he agreed, "he did seem to be very gentle. Hardly the girlfriend abusing type. As I said, though, I need to ask these things. Now, has the young lady been involved with any sort of, well, chemicals?"

"We're all clean," Vegeta proudly answered. "Not one of us has ever turned to drugs. You can't work if you're tripping out, and we're not dumb enough to try."

"You can test us, too," Krillen added. "They have over the counter testing kits at most drugstores. You won't find anything in any of us."

The elderly gentleman seemed to consider that for a moment. While there was an outside chance that it was a bluff, it did not seem likely. They all seemed to be dedicated workers in full control of their faculties. They were accurate with their work and they were focused. All in all, the chances of them dabbling in drugs did not seem high.

He took another drink from his water glass. "Boys, let's cut to the chase. Why don't you want me to know why this girl has been hospitalized?"

Vegeta leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He locked eyes with his employer, and kept his voice perfectly level as he spoke. "With all due respect, sir, we are ultimately not telling you because you seem to be the sort of person who likes to help people, and we do not take handouts. Yes, she is in the hospital right now, but she was not injured and has not been involved with any form of underhanded activity. She was taken in with a fever of almost a hundred and four. She will remain there until they have her well enough to return to our home, and that will likely be fairly soon. So while your concern is appreciated, there is no need for your intervention."

Krillen silently nodded along, not daring to add anything to the speech. As far as he could tell, Vegeta had offered just enough information to satisfy the man without letting out the true nature of the situation. If they were lucky, they might actually get out without a hitch.

Vegeta looked up and saw their blue haired companion rounding the corner for the gate to the backyard. "Excuse me," he politely said, getting to his feet, "I'll bring Bulma inside." Without waiting for a response, he walked briskly to the backyard.

Back in the living room, Krillen had his lips thinly pressed together. Politeness from Vegeta was never truly sincere, no matter how good it sounded, and every time Krillen heard it he wanted to laugh. It took every ounce of willpower he had to keep a straight face in front of the other man.

In the yard, Vegeta intercepted Bulma and pulled her away from the windows quickly. "Look," he growled, "I told the old guy that she's in the hospital because of the fever and that the only reason we didn't tell him is because we don't accept charity. That's all he _needs_ to know, so that's all he's _going_ to know. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly," Bulma answered. "Vegeta, I'm so sorry I said…"

"Save it," he hissed. "If we're gone for long, he'll get suspicious. Now get in there, put on a happy face, and for the love of God don't tell him anything else!" With that he brought her into the living room, his expression far calmer than his actual emotions. "If you don't mind, sir," he addressed their employer, "I think it would be best if we got back to the job we were hired to do."

The man nodded. "You can do that in a minute," he contradicted. "There's just one more thing I need from you young folks before you can do that." He got to his feet and looked at them with total seriousness.

Then he smiled. "You need to eat your lunch!"

/

The truck ride back was completely silent. Not one person uttered a word until the old man pulled up to the curb they always used. As the teenagers hopped out, he leaned out his window and flagged down Krillen. "If I show up here tomorrow," he quietly asked, "will the three of you be here?"

Nervously shifting his weight, Krillen nodded. "Yeah, we'll be here."

The man nodded, and he offered them a smile before he drove off. As the white truck traveled further away, the three teenagers simply watched. When the truck was completely out of sight, Krillen turned to the other two.

"Been a long time since I've heard you say your pleases and thank-yous," he teased his oldest friend. "Seriously, I don't think I've _ever_ heard you call someone 'sir' like that before!"

Vegeta growled back. "Shut up."

While normally Krillen would laugh at their usual exchange, he just did not seem to have it in him that day. "I don't think he's buying it," he quietly said.

"No shit," Vegeta grumbled. With a heavy sigh, he shook his head. "He's not pushing it harder because he doesn't have the information he wants yet, and he doesn't want us to ditch before he can get it."

Bulma frowned and looked at the taller boy. "What information could he want?"

"Anything that will let him know what we're hiding," Vegeta bit out. "We were clearly not letting everything out, and he's suspicious. All he knows right now is that some teenager named Goku has a girlfriend in the hospital. He doesn't know which hospital, he doesn't know she's pregnant, and he doesn't know her name. We need to make sure it stays that way for as long as we can." He shook his head once more, turning his head slightly in the direction of the setting sun. "He's not dumb. He'll figure it out."

Krillen sadly agreed. "He knows we don't have a car. That means that this spot is in walking distance from where we live. And there's only one hospital nearby."

But Bulma refused to believe it. "Even if he knows the hospital, he doesn't have Chi-Chi's name, he doesn't have Goku's last name, and Goku shouldn't be in the system at all. How is he going to get further than that?"

"Goku _is_ in the system," Vegeta bitterly contradicted. "He got that head wound patched up, so they do have his name. It doesn't matter, though, because I could see the old guy thinking. He's that guy who plays grandfather to everyone to get his way. And don't underestimate his ability to get info, because that nice old man act is almost unstoppable."

"Nice old man is only trumped by nice old lady," Krillen agreed.

Tears began to form in Bulma's eyes. It was her fault that the old man was suspicious, and guilt was starting to eat at her. "Oh, God, what can we do?"

Vegeta bit down on the inside of his left cheek, a serious look in his eyes. "What would you be willing to do to help them be with their child?" he quietly asked.

Both Krillen and Bulma looked confused, but Krillen quickly said, "Anything it takes."

"Me, too," Bulma agreed. "Whatever you need."

Digging around in his left pocket, Vegeta went on. "You two need to go back to the hospital. Now. Krillen, you stay in the lobby and keep your eyes open for the old guy. He went in the opposite direction, but it doesn't take long to turn a car around. If you see him, distract him like there's no tomorrow." He pulled a few coins out of his pocket and turned to Bulma. "You go straight to Chi-Chi's room, and you keep your ass in there until I call. Find out everything you can about her condition. See if anything new has developed. Get every damn ounce of information you can possibly get. When I call, you get that phone as fast as you can."

Bulma frowned, but she nodded. "Sure, no problem," she quietly agreed. "Vegeta, what are you…?"

"Go, both of you," he commanded, turning away from them. "I need to take care of a few things. I'll probably call in an hour or so."

Krillen knew that tone. It meant that the time had come for a Hail Mary pass. They were officially working on nothing more than a wing and a prayer, and if everything did not fall together in just the right way, they were screwed. Without a word, he grabbed Bulma and began jogging for his post. He was not sure what was going to happen, but they needed to be as ready as they could be.

As the other two began running for the hospital, Vegeta slid the coins into a payphone and dialed a number he hadn't used in some time. As he heard the line get picked up on the other side, he quietly swallowed and said the only thing he could think of.

"I need your help."


	11. Chapter 11

Vegeta sighed into the phone. "Yes, I know it's been almost two years, but…" He paused for a moment as the person on the other end interrupted him. As much as he hated taking even a remotely submissive role, he knew that what he was asking demanded it. When there was finally a pause, Vegeta calmly responded, "Do you think I would have made this call if this wasn't an emergency?"

The teenager glanced over his shoulder, listening as patiently as he could. No matter how hard he tried, he could not stop watching for that white truck. He was beyond certain that the old man was going to check in on them at any minute, and Vegeta desperately needed time. That, and a miracle.

"Yeah," he replied into the phone, considering the location he was being told. It was over two miles away, and the only mode of transportation he had were his own two feet. It was going to be brutal on his already over stressed body, but Vegeta knew that he needed to get everything in place as fast as humanly possible. "I know the place. I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes."

Without even waiting for the other party to respond, the teenager hung up the phone and began sprinting down the street. His muscles screamed at him, begging him to stop, straining violently from two days with no break, but he blocked the pain out. If there was going to be any hope at all of pulling off his plan, then exhaustion was not an option. He was just going to have to overcome it or die trying.

/

Gasping for air, Bulma pulled on Krillen's sleeve. "Oh, God, slow down!" she begged.

The smaller of the pair certainly felt sympathy for the girl, but he refused to let it compromise their situation. "Just one more street, Bulma," he panted. He grabbed a hold of her hand and pulled her, almost violently, toward the hospital. If they were lucky, the old man would not have beaten them to the hospital and Krillen would have a chance to catch his breath before he had to distract him. The greatest way to slow someone down without a fist fight or property damage was talking, and Krillen knew he was expected to talk for up to an hour straight. That was going to require a lot more air than he had…

Bulma groaned as her feet kept pounding the pavement. Fatigue had definitely set in, and she honestly did not know if she was going to be able to make it. If they did not catch a break soon, it was only a matter of time before every single one of them gave out.

After what felt like an eternity to the two teenagers, the front doors of the hospital came in to view. Krillen slowed the pace, knowing perfectly well that barging in would only attract unwanted attention. "Remember," he said, breathing heavily several times, "you do not leave Chi-Chi and Goku, and whatever Vegeta has up his sleeve, go with it."

Bulma nodded, desperately trying to catch her breath, but she was filling with doubts. "What, exactly, _is_ Vegeta's plan?"

"No idea," Krillen admitted, "but I've known him long enough to trust his lead. Even his crazier ideas pay off in the end, so just follow his lead and do what he tells you."

"But what if…"

The smaller teen cut her off. "No, Bulma. Now is not the time to second guess things. We stick together. Always. And if we're going to get through this, we need to all fall in line. Vegeta's the one with the idea, so we go with Vegeta's idea. Don't question it. Don't think about it. Don't do anything except what he tells you to do."

Her breathing finally starting to slow down, Bulma nodded her head. She had never been great at following orders, but she would do her best. The guilt had been eating away at her since she had made her mistake, and she sincerely wanted to make everything better.

"Okay," she agreed. "I'll go straight to her room, and I won't leave."

Krillen nodded. "Cool," he responded, still breathing fairly hard. "I'll stay in the lobby, and I'll try to get a message up to you if we have a problem."

As they began to enter the building, Bulma looked down at her friend. "Hey, Krillen?"

"Yeah?"

Bulma swallowed and looked away. "I'm sorry about all of this."

Krillen sighed. "I know," was the only response he could come up with. He knew that she had meant no harm, and he knew that she would never willingly endanger their group, but there was a very real part of him that still blamed her for their situation.

Until things were better, he was not sure he could forgive her.

/

"Well, well, well," a deep voice called out, watching Vegeta slow down before him, "I gotta say, I never thought I'd see you again."

Vegeta's head swam. His body had already been running on empty, and running as hard as he could for two miles had pushed him further than he had in some time. No matter what, though, he refused to let his weakness show.

"Liar," Vegeta countered, fighting to keep from panting. "You knew damn well I'd be back."

The tall man shrugged one shoulder. "Eh, maybe. I don't think anyone actually _knows_ what you're up to. Not even you." He stepped aside from the doorway to the garage. "Shall we enter my office?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes, but he silently followed. He could not believe what he was doing. The odds of getting this man to agree to help were not high. But as far as the teenager could see, there were no other options. Without a word, he took a seat in what he assumed was a staff lounge and focused on not passing out.

"So," the taller of the two began, turning a seat backward and facing his short counterpart as he sat, "you fall off the grid for two years, leaving no address, no was to reach you, no way to know if you're even alive anymore, and then you magically call me at work and ask for what I can only imagine to be a ridiculous favor." He shook his head and closed his eyes. "Brat, this better be good, because honestly, I've never like you all that much."

"Yeah, I know you hate me," Vegeta sneered, "but you care about your brother, Raditz."

Raditz sat up straight. "What did you do?" he growled.

"Nothing!" Vegeta snapped back furiously before remembering his place. He took a deep breath, fighting for his composure before continuing. "He's physically fine, Raditz."

Only slightly calmer, the long haired man sneered, "Then what the hell does he need _me_ for? The whole reason he left is because _someone_ convinced him that it was better than coming home!"

Vegeta bit down on the inside of his left cheek as he struggled to keep calm. "I understand that you didn't want him to leave, but it's not like I ran into him one day and told him to run away from home. He had been living on a park bench for weeks before I met him, and he _tried _to go back. Your folks wouldn't take him."

"He came back once," Raditz fought back. "He never came back after that!"

"Yes, he did," Vegeta bit out. "He went back three more times, and your parents turned him away every time. We didn't relocate until after that fourth try, and you saw him every week until then."

Raditz fell silent. True enough, he had been able to meet up with his younger brother once a week for almost a year at the park. He had met Krillen, who seemed to be okay and talkative, and Vegeta, who had always loomed in the background. Then, one day, they did not show up. They never showed up again after that, and he had no idea what had happened.

But his parents never told him about the other visits. Raditz remembered his parents talking about his brother coming home, but he had no idea that he had actually _been_ there.

"Why did you take him away?" he finally asked.

Vegeta looked him in the eye. "We had to. We had been struggling where we were for months and failing miserably. Suburbs are a lousy place to be when you're on the streets. There's nowhere to lay low. There's no place to dig for what you need. Krillen and I had gotten by just fine in a more urban setting, but Goku didn't want to completely leave you. We just…" He looked away, his hands calmly in his lap. "I couldn't make it work. We were going to starve to death there."

The two sat there quietly for a moment. They had never gotten along particularly well, but they both could sense that they were going to have to put their differences aside. "Vegeta," Raditz eventually asked, "what's wrong with my brother?"

Vegeta sighed. "Same problem that got him kicked out in the first place. He couldn't keep it in his pants," he grumbled. "He knocked up Chi-Chi six months ago."

Raditz tilted his head to the side, listening intently.

"She went into labor yesterday," the younger man went on.

Raditz's eyebrows came together quickly. "Three months early?"

"Yeah," Vegeta affirmed. "They were able to stop it, but it's likely only a temporary halt. She could give birth any day now."

The tall young man looked concerned but confused. "Still not seeing how I factor into this…"

"That kid, if he lives, is going to…he's going to need more than we'll be able to give him," Vegeta regretfully admitted. "Goku's never going to be able to support a kid born that early. We just don't have the supplies to keep him alive."

Slowly, Raditz began to catch on. "You want me to raise the kid, don't you?" he grimly asked.

Vegeta shrugged one shoulder. "In a legal sense, yes. We'll all pitch in and help, but you know as well as I do that a kid born in that state is going to have child services all over him. Even if we thought we could pull this off, they'd find out at take him away. At least this way, Goku and Chi-Chi can still see their son."

Raditz shook his head. "I don't think you thought this all the way through," he countered. "No judge in his right mind is going to grant sole custody to a single twenty year old guy who works sixty hours a week in a garage."

"Actually, I did think of that…"

/

Bulma smiled down at Chi-Chi. "I think he finally fell asleep," she giggled, nodding over to the other chair.

Chi-Chi turned her head and smiled. Goku was flopped back in his chair, arms sprawled open and a thin line of drool streaming from the corner of his mouth. After forty hours of work and worry, he finally and at last had fallen asleep. "It's about damn time," she weakly laughed. "He's been so sweet to me, and he loves me so much, but apparently he's an unbelievable worry wart."

"Has he always been that way, or is Vegeta rubbing off on him?" Bulma jokingly asked.

"A little of both," Chi-Chi sincerely answered. She shook her head and gave Bulma a sad smile. "I'm actually a little surprised that Vegeta's doing all of this for us."

That certainly caught Bulma off guard. "Krillen always told me that Vegeta's the one that kept you guys alive…"

"And that's why I'm kind of surprised to hear that he's helping us keep our child," she confessed. "From the survival side, my baby is nothing but an unnecessary risk. But he's never even suggested that I give him up, even though it's caused us nothing but trouble so far." She shook her head and sighed. "I guess he still can't get past his brother."

Bulma leaned forward, trying to process everything. "I…I didn't know that Vegeta has a brother."

"Had," Chi-Chi corrected.

"What?" The blue haired beauty had to think about that for a moment before she understood what she was being told. "Oh…"

With a tired sigh, Chi-Chi rubbed her swollen belly gently, avoiding the sensors attached to it. "Tarble would have been…" she paused for a moment to think, "twelve this year, I think. Maybe thirteen."

Bulma swallowed a lump in her throat. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

Chi-Chi offered a mild shrug. "Vegeta doesn't like people to know. If he had his way, none of us would know."

"Then how…"

"He told Krillen when they were kids," the brunette supplied. "About a year after we all met, Krillen told Goku. About an hour after that, Goku told me." A small smile graced her pale, worn features. "I swear, sometimes the fastest way to spread a secret is to tell Goku." She began to giggle. "Vegeta was so mad when he found out that Krillen talked, he tied him to a broken radiator for an hour."

Bulma looked horrified. "How is that funny?"

Chi-Chi shook her head gently, still giggling. "No, being tied down wasn't funny. It was the apology Krillen was giving through the walls that was hysterical. The entire hour he talked, and it got funnier and funnier all the time. By the end, he was singing it!"

The former heiress smiled. "Krillen does have a great sense of humor." Her smile dimmed, though, as she remembered their conversation. "Chi-Chi, how did Vegeta's brother die?"

The brunette looked down and rubbed her belly again. She opened her mouth to speak, but the phone rang and interrupted her.

Bulma jolted in her chair. She had been so caught up in their talk that she had forgotten that she was waiting for the phone to ring. As soon as her nerves steadied, she reached out and picked it up. "Hello?" She kept her eyes on Chi-Chi as she talked. "Yeah, Vegeta, everything's fine here. No sign of…" She was rudely interrupted, but she was starting to get used to it. Suddenly, her eyes grew wide. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

If not for the seriousness of the situation, Chi-Chi might have laughed at the expression on Bulma's face. The blue haired beauty shot to her feet, her eyes wide as saucers.

"You want me to _WHAT?"_


	12. Chapter 12

Krillen paced around the waiting room anxiously. He knew that the gears were in motion, but he wished he knew what they were. While his position of keeping guard was vital, it left him unable to communicate with anyone else in the group. Bulma was stationed upstairs, and God only knew where Vegeta was.

Over an hour had passed, and still no word had reached him, bad or good. It was unbelievably unnerving to him, so much so that he was tempted to leave his station long enough to call up to Chi-Chi's room and ask if Bulma knew anything yet. But he would not abandon his post. No matter how much it was killing him.

His stomach rumbled for what felt like the millionth time. He had barely had any appetite during lunch, and the last time he had eaten before that was lunch the previous day. A small part of him wondered how long he could go without food before it became a real problem, and he prayed that whatever Vegeta had up his sleeve would be put into action soon.

The diminutive teenager rubbed his eyes, forcing himself to stay awake. As he glanced up, he heard the ping of the hospital door opening. An exhausted smile slowly crept on to his face. "Oh, thank God you're here!" he said. "Nothing to report so far down here."

"Good," Vegeta responded, nodding slightly. "Any word yet from upstairs?"

"Radio silence," Krillen answered. "If anything's happened, they haven't told me about it."

Raditz looked down at his younger brother's friend. It had been quite a while since he had seen Krillen, but if anything the teenager looked even smaller than he had before. "You okay?" he asked.

Krillen had a lopsided smile on his face as he looked up at Goku's older brother. "Still kicking," he chuckled. "How've you been?"

"Pleasantries later," Vegeta commanded, making his way for the elevator. "We need to keep going."

The other two young men both knew it to be true. As the taller two headed into the elevator, Krillen cleared his throat. "Um, since I'm probably still staying down here, what are the odds that someone can be sent down with food or caffeine?"

The elevator doors closed before Krillen got an answer, but he did not miss Vegeta's eye roll. "Sweet," he said to himself. "Fifty-fifty odds that I get something!"

As the elevator was between levels, Raditz flipped the switch to stall it. "That kid looks terrible," he bluntly stated. "What the hell is wrong with him?"

"We haven't exactly had time to eat or sleep since this whole damn thing started," Vegeta shot back irritably. "We've also been breaking our backs on a job. None of us are at the top of our game. Now, if you're done interrogating me," he reached over and flicked the switch, making the machine move once more, "we've got work to do."

It was only a few more seconds before they were on the proper floor, and only thirty seconds beyond that to find Chi-Chi's room. Vegeta opened the door and walked in, not bothering to hold the door for Raditz. He had been 'playing nice' all day, and he was damn sick of it.

"Gee, thanks," Raditz sarcastically muttered, entering the room behind him.

Within the room, Bulma quickly got to her feet. "Hi," she began, extending a hand, "my name is…"

"Bulma Briefs?" Raditz gawked, not paying any attention to the offered hand. He slowly turned his amazed gaze down toward Vegeta. "The girl you were telling me about was Bulma Briefs?"

Bulma blushed slightly. "I'm sorry, have we met?" she coyly asked.

Off on the side of the room, Vegeta rolled his eyes and sat down. Meanwhile, Raditz was still gawking. "No, we haven't met before. I just…you're so…" he shook his head, his long ponytail shaking behind him. "Sorry, it's not every day I meet someone famous."

The crimson on Bulma's cheeks deepened. "I wouldn't exactly call myself famous," she playfully responded.

"You are to anyone who builds things for a living," Raditz pointed out. "I read the article you wrote for Popular Mechanics last year. It was fantastic!"

"You two need a private room?" Vegeta bit out, resting his head against his hand. His fatigue was really starting to catch up with him, and he wanted to get the details going before he blacked out completely.

Bulma stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, this is what you wanted, isn't it?" she cockily shot back. "After all, we're supposed to be engaged to each other."

Groggily, Goku began to sit up in his chair. "Wait, someone's getting married?" he mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I love weddings!" As his vision came back into focus, he abruptly realized that the extra body in the room belonged to his older brother.

Goku snapped to his feet, but he immediately doubled over and grabbed the side of the bed. "Whoah, head rush," he gasped. "Just give me a minute to make the world stop spinning…" Several seconds later, the tall teen slowly righted himself and looked his brother in the eye. "I missed you," he softly said, giving his brother a sad smile.

Raditz gave his younger brother a simple nod. He had never been particularly blatant with feelings toward his brother, but he did care. "Hear you got yourself into trouble again."

Sorrow filled Goku's eyes as he looked down at his girlfriend. "We're doing okay," he defended.

"That's not what I hear," Raditz contradicted. "Hell, the fact that I've heard _anything_ is proof enough that you're not doing okay."

When Goku looked around the room, clearly confused, everyone else looked away. Even Chi-Chi had been told Vegeta's plan, and as much as it pained her to do so, it was better than anything she could offer. Goku, however, did not even know that there needed to _be_ a plan.

"Goku, sweetie," Chi-Chi softly explained, taking her lover's hand, "he's here to help us." Tears began to stream down her face, but she fought to keep from outright crying. "He's here to make sure that everyone is okay," she went on, her voice clearly cracking. "He's here to…to…"

"I'm adopting your son," the twenty year old bluntly stated.

The room fell into an awkward silence. Even Vegeta did not want to be the one to break it. The tension was virtually visible, and though no one said it, they could all tell that anything shy of the perfect words were going to cause a fight.

Several minutes passed in that miserable state before Goku managed to swallow what little spit was in his mouth. "You…you can't do that," he stammered.

"Yes, I can," Raditz firmly countered. "Look, I know you don't want to hear this, but it's the best thing you can do for your kid."

"The best thing for my kid is for him to stay with his parents!" Goku shouted back. "He's _my_ son! You can't have him!"

"Goku," Bulma delicately intervened, stepping between the brothers, "I need you to listen to me…"

"Did you hear what he said?" Goku interrupted. "Did you hear what he's trying to do?"

Bulma picked up the tall teenager's hand and cradled it gently. "We know, Goku."

"And you're going to stop him, right?" Goku demanded. "You're not going to let him do this, are you?"

"Goku…" Bulma tried to calm.

"Kid…" Raditz warned.

"No!" Goku retaliated.

"You idiots!" Vegeta threatened.

Several voices clashed with one another as the argument escalated swiftly. The noise level grew and grew and grew until Chi-Chi screamed.

The room fell deathly silent, save the crying coming from the young brunette. When his brain kicked back on, Goku quickly got to his girlfriend's side. "What's wrong, sweetie?" he asked, his worry more than evident.

"It's starting again," she cried, the tears rolling down her cheeks. "Oh, God, not again…"

Vegeta lunged over and hit the emergency call button on the side of the bed. "Everyone else out, we need to clear a room!" he shouted. He, Raditz, and Bulma barely managed to squeeze through the door before a doctor came running up.

"Her contractions started again," Bulma frantically told them. "They're worse than before."

The doctor offered them a nod and ran inside, leaving the three young people jilted in the hallway. Vegeta turned to the other two. "Go for a walk," he softly commanded. "Work out what you need to. And get Krillen a soda."

"Vegeta," Bulma began, but a large hand on her shoulder grabbed her attention. Behind her stood this new boy, one she did not know but was supposed to know intimately. Her mind moved into gear, helping her realize that Chi-Chi had probably just slammed her way back into active labor. That meant that the child was going to be born likely in a matter of hours, and they needed to have everything ready before then. She cleared her throat slightly. "Um, I just wanted to know what kind of soda Krillen wanted…"

"Caffeinated," Raditz supplied, pulling her away. "Come on, it's on me. I'll get one for you, too." As they walked down the hall, Vegeta actually cracked a very small smirk as he heard Goku's brother ask the blue haired beauty, "So, when you're rebuilding a classic engine, you said that the best thing to have was…"

Vegeta shook his head. "Might just pull this damn thing off after all," he sighed. Several minutes ticked by before Goku slunk out of the room. The exhausted teenager flopped down on the bench next to his smaller friend.

"They kicked me out," he simply stated. "They said…they said they needed room."

"Probably did," Vegeta simply responded.

The clicking of each second was remarkably loud from the hall clock. Goku kept his eyes on Chi-Chi's door, not even remotely looking at his friend. "Where is Raditz?"

"Downstairs with Bulma and Krillen," Vegeta plainly answered.

Oh, the noise that the clock was making…

"Why is he here?" Goku quietly but firmly demanded.

Vegeta kept his eyes on the wall. "Because I brought him here."

Each second seemed to be drilling into their heads.

Goku rubbed his hands together. "Why did you get him?"

"Because it was either that or lose your son to the system," Vegeta quickly bit out.

Click, click, click…

"Why didn't you talk to me about it?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Vegeta sat up a little straighter. "You hadn't slept in sixty hours," he pointed out. "You needed rest, and we thought there was going to be more time to discuss it with you."

The clock seemed to be growing louder and louder.

"You had no right," Goku accused.

"You can still see your son this way," Vegeta countered.

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

"It's bad, isn't it?" the taller boy miserably asked.

"It is," Vegeta responded.

Nodding, Goku got to his feet. He seemed in total control as he dusted off his trousers, and he was completely calm as he stretched out his extremely tense shoulders. With a sense of peacefulness around him, he stepped up on the bench and grabbed the clock off of the hospital wall. In one swift, violent motion, he slammed it into the ground as hard as he could, shattering it into a hundred pieces. And with a serene air about him, he sat back down.

"Feel better?" Vegeta sincerely asked.

"A little," Goku admitted, letting out a deep breath. "Now tell me what the hell is going on."

The smaller of the pair sat back and sighed. "That idiot woman let it slip today that your girlfriend was in the hospital," he began. "I managed to keep the answers as vague as I could, but there's a solid chance that the old coot is going to come looking for us here."

Goku nodded, not sure where the story was going.

"That's why we had to move fast," Vegeta went on, "but admit it. Even if the blue bitch hadn't spilled today, we were going to have to find an out."

The taller teenager's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What are you saying?" he demanded.

"I'm saying that as soon as Chi-Chi went into labor, we were in a hole we couldn't get out of," Vegeta tersely replied. "You know damn well that the hospital is not going to send a kid born that early home with two teenagers and no response from child services! All they have to do is ask where you live and you'd lose your son forever."

"So, what, it was _your_ job to take care of that?" Goku hissed.

Vegeta glared dangerously at his companion. "No," he fought back, "it wasn't. But foolish me, I thought that maybe finding a way for you to _see_ your son on a regular basis might be important. Forgive me. I'll just go call child services and let them know…"

In a moment of anger, Goku took a swing at Vegeta. The shorter teenager had not been anticipating the attack and took the blow full force to the side of the head. He cradled his head with one hand, using the other to try to get up. "Oh, you son of a…" That was as far as he got before the taller one fell on him, continuing his assault.

But Vegeta was no longer caught off guard. Revved up for a good fight, he had no problem driving a fist into Goku. For thirty brutal seconds, both boys tore into each other, each one getting out three days worth of pent up frustrations. They hit and they kicked and they grappled each other, but exhaustion caught them both quickly. It did not take long at all for them to both back off, barely managing to stay awake.

"I don't want to lose my son," Goku gasped, slowly getting to his feet.

"And you won't," Vegeta panted, barely able to pull himself up onto the bench. "The whole point of getting your brother, you moron, was to make sure you could see the damn kid every day. He's direct family, he's not a teenager, he's 'engaged', he has a steady job and he has no criminal record. He's perfect."

Goku continued to breathe hard, nodding slightly. "You're going to make sure I still get my son?" he asked.

Vegeta paused for a moment, trying to calm down his own breath. "I will do everything I can," was the most assurance he would give.

Goku nodded and clamped a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder. "Thanks," he sincerely offered.

Shoving the hand off, Vegeta just sat back and closed his eyes. If fate could cut him just a little break, he might be able to get some rest before things got any worse. But luck had never been on his side, and that day was no different.

The door of the room flew open, and Chi-Chi's bed was hurried out. The staff was calling out things near frantically to one another as they rushed down the hall, completely ignoring the two boys awaiting them. Goku jumped to his feet, chased after them, and demanded, "What's going on?"

"Delivery room," a nurse called back, not even bothering to look back. "We gotta get her down now so we can get that kid in the NICU as fast as possible." A few more steps down the hall, the nurse spare a glance. "Sorry, kid," she genuinely called out, "no visitors. Too much, too fast, too clean. We'll get you when we're done."

A sense of numbness shot through the poor boy, and he found his legs slowing down on their own accord. The sound of the double doors echoed in his head as he came to a complete stop. A ringing sound occupied his ears as he watched the swinging doors closing.

How could it possibly turn out well?


	13. Chapter 13

Goku looked miserably through the glass. Two hours ago, his son had been born, and it was not good. He was not entirely sure what was wrong, he had struggled to focus as the doctor had told him. He was so tired, and so hungry, and there had just been so much going on that everything had been such a blur. But he did know that it was not good.

Even if the doctor had not told him anything, he would have known that there were serious problems. The child had been immediately taken away, and neither parent had been so much as allowed to hold him. He was quickly admitted to the NICU. Goku had missed what NICU stood for, but it was obviously a place where the very sick babies went.

Through the glass he could see his son. He was small, so very small. The boy had weighed under two pounds when he was born, and looked so much more frail than any other baby Goku had ever seen. There were tubes and wires and machines everywhere. The lights were so dim in the sterile environment that it was hard to imagine that anything in there could actually thrive. On his son alone, Goku could count at least five lines running. Tubes in his mouth, tubes in his nose, monitors, isolated chambers...it was all so much.

The overwhelmed teenager placed his forehead on the cool glass. His mind had shut off the moment he saw just how helpless his boy was. The very idea of his son being so weak that he was fighting for his life was more than Goku could fathom at the moment, and there was no one there to help him. At that moment, he stood alone. Vegeta was getting the first sleep he had been able to in three days in one of the waiting room chairs, and Krillen was doing the same one row down. Chi-Chi was still unconscious, her body well beyond drained. And somewhere in the hospital, Bulma and Raditz were very quickly pulling together the story of their 'relationship'. For the first time in days, Goku felt truly alone.

"Why is this happening?" he softly whispered. "Why us? Why is it always us? We don't do anything bad. We don't use drugs. We don't rob people. We don't beg for money. We have earned every single thing that we have. And we've been careful. We made sure she had the most to eat. We made sure that she had vitamins. So why is this happening to us?"

He closed his eyes and reveled in the chill feeling of the window. "I don't think that we've done anything wrong," he said with conviction. "Even though our parents wouldn't help us, we still made the right choices. It would have been wrong to lie to them about being together. It would have been wrong to pretend that we weren't in love with each other. We belonged together, no matter what they said. It's never wrong to follow your heart."

With a tired sigh, he opened his eyes. "We were careful," he told himself again. "We were safe when we had sex. We knew that it would be trouble if she got pregnant, and we were safe. Hell, even Krillen and Vegeta made sure we knew what we were doing so I wouldn't knock her up. But it happened anyway, didn't it? No matter how hard we tried, she still got pregnant, didn't she? And we weren't ready for that."

A small, sad chuckle escaped the exhausted boy's throat as he thought back to when the entire ordeal began. "God, I remember all of the blood rushing to my ears when she told me about the baby," he laughed. "I swear, I thought my ears were going to explode. I freaked. I mean, I totally freaked. And do you know what my beautiful, wonderful girlfriend did?

"She laughed. She actually laughed. She was just as scared as I was, but she must have thought that my face looked really funny, because I couldn't tell." Goku began to sniffle, and tears began to form at the corners of his eyes. "God, and when we told the guys..." He laughed, and the tears began to roll down his cheeks. "Vegeta nearly had a stroke, and Krillen wanted to throw us a baby shower!"

By that point, he was definitely crying. "I don't know what to do," he cried. "I...I want him to be okay, but I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to keep him safe. I don't know...I don't know if he'll...if he'll even..."

The enormous teenager finally snapped. Breaking into a full blown sob, Goku slumped against the wall and crumpled to the floor. He was so distraught he did not even notice when a nurse draped the blanket around his shoulders.

/

"I didn't think my parents would approve of you," Bulma casually stated, taking a sip of the coffee Raditz bought her. "You were an older boy from a working class family. I was sure they would have thought of you as bad news, so I never told them when I started seeing you."

The twenty year old nodded. "I didn't tell the guys at the garage because you were under eighteen when we met," he reasoned, looking off the edge of the roof. "I didn't think they would have seen you as anything but jail bait. Plus, I didn't want anyone to think that we were doing anything that would give me a criminal record."

Bulma giggled, taking another sip. It felt so wonderful to have the hot, caffeinated brew in her body again. She had not tasted coffee since the day she had lost it all. She reveled in the sensation of it trickling down her throat, savoring every moment as it warmed her from the inside out. "Makes good sense," she agreed. She looked into her swirling drink, and her smile faded to a mild frown. "How much time do you think we have?"

"Don't know," the young man honestly answered. "I have no idea how quickly any of this is supposed to happen."

Letting out a sigh, Bulma rested her head against the boy's broad shoulder. "We should probably get going back inside," she quietly said.

"Yeah," Raditz agreed, though he did not move at all.

A moment passed without either of them getting up. "It just doesn't seem real, you know?" Bulma asked.

Nodding, the boy had to agree. It all felt like a very strange dream to him, especially since he had only been brought in a couple hours earlier.

"You know what?" the eighteen year old questioned.

"Hn?" Raditz responded.

The former heiress nuzzled against his warm, hard body. "If I had to get stuck with a fake fiancé, you seem like the best I could have ever hoped for."

Raditz immediately grew stiff, and his face flushed bright red. "Uh, you were right, we should get going back inside." He guided her off of his shoulder and scurried to his feet.

"Ugh!" Bulma grunted, trying to gain her own balance. She shot a glare up at her alleged love as she finally righted herself. "You know," she hissed, "you're going to have to do better than that if we're going to convince people that we're madly in love!"

The tall young man offered her a half smile and rubbed the back of his head, much like his younger brother. "I know," he responded. "But that was a little too real for a too private…you know, moment type thing."

Bulma dusted off her clothes and huffed. "Once we go inside, you know that you _will_ have to be affectionate with me."

Raditz rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because we all know that a family destroying moment is _really_ the moment for affection."

"It can be!" Bulma protested. "This is the moment that families come together, not the one where they're torn apart! This is when we really prove how much we really mean to each other, and prove that we can stand by one another, no matter what!"

"Because that's what you did with your family?" the twenty year old shot back.

All of the color drained from Bulma's face. "What?" she quietly responded.

Raditz shook his head. "Look, I know it sounds harsh, but you've told me that your parents got arrested over a month ago. Have you gone to see them once?"

"That is different," Bulma hissed. "That is nothing like this!"

"You're right," Raditz countered. "That one is easy to do. You walk over to the God damned prison, you sign in, and you say 'hi'."

Bulma tried to slap her theoretical boyfriend in the face, but he easily caught it. "They did it to themselves," she cried. "My parents made their choices, Raditz! It was their own decision! They knew that they were doing something wrong, and they can live with the damn consequences!"

The tall young man glared down at her. "Do you really think my idiotic younger brother has made good life decisions?" he shot back. "Do you think that these guys are all here because they made good life decisions? God damn it, Bulma, do you think any of them really understand what they are doing in their lives? They are here because of _their_ decisions. These are _their_ damn consequences."

Letting out a choked sob, Bulma pounded her fists against Raditz' chest. In the entirety of the time she had been with her new friends, she had deliberately kept busy. Work helped her forget about where her parents were. Work helped her forget about the overwhelming sense of betrayal she had suffered through. Work helped her forget that she had gone from an untouchable heiress to a homeless girl in just a few hours. When she worked, all she could focus on was just that.

The others had let it slide for so long. She gave a quick explanation when she had been new, but it was never pressed and she never offered. For the first time since she had found her new home, Bulma let out all of her anger and frustrations about her situation.

She shouted and she cried and she pounded away at the broad chest in front of her, somehow forgetting that it belonged to a man. Every curse and obscenity she had ever known flew wildly from her mouth. Tears ran freely down her cheeks as her blows got wilder and wilder, and she sobbed almost hysterically.

For two solid minutes, the overwhelmed girl took out every single ounce of frustration and grief out on the new boy. She held absolutely nothing back on her assault. As her energy began to fade, her curses faded into obscure noises, and eventually to gentle sobs. With a very fierce grip, she clung to the shirt of the young man before her, and she buried her face in his well battered chest.

Raditz felt the defeat in the woman before him. With a little uncertainty in his motions, he wrapped an arm around the shaking woman. "Sorry," he mumbled, feeling a little guilty about what he had said. "That was low."

With a small whimper, Bulma nodded into his chest. "Yes it was," she sniffled, her words muffled by his shirt. "But if you promise to never, ever, ever talk about it again, I will forgive you."

Quirking an eyebrow, Raditz returned with, "What if I only promise to never talk about it again, not to never, ever, ever talk about it?"

Through her tears and her sniffles, Bulma actually managed to crack a small smile. "That was so stupid," she sadly giggled, having to sniff her nose again. "What are you, twelve?"

"I'm offended!" Raditz balked, pretending to be horrified by the notion. "That maturity level could not have been higher than eight!"

Another laugh came out of Bulma, and she pulled away just long enough to look at her new fiancé's face. "You actually have a very cute sense of humor."

Raditz adjusted his position, allowing his arm to be draped over her shoulder while they began to walk for the door. "If you ever tell anyone about it, I will be forced to kill you."

A little bit calmer and a little more comfortable, the pair entered the hospital proper. Even though both of them felt a sense of dread over the idea, they knew that it would be wise to check on Goku. Bulma led them through the halls, and all too quickly, they found themselves outside of the neonatal intensive care unit.

The tears were quickly reforming in Bulma's eyes as she surveyed the scene. Goku, wrapped in a blanket and looking extremely uncomfortable, was curled up in a ball in a chair and virtually unconscious. The other two boys were a ways off, both desperately trying to catch what little sleep they could. Krillen's severe lack of height allowed the teen to fit better in a matching position, but it did not seem all that much better.

Quietly, Bulma and Raditz approached the window to the NICU. "He's so little," Bulma softly said.

At her side, Raditz said absolutely nothing. All he could do was stare at the frail little boy that was his nephew. Like his brother had only a brief while ago, Raditz found himself staring almost helplessly at the tubes and wires feeding into and out of the child. There was nothing that he thought he could say.

Behind them, a throat cleared. Both the mechanic and the former heiress jumped, having not seen anyone awake when they entered. Behind them stood a woman in her early forties with dark brown hair and trendy maroon rimmed glasses. Swallowing what little was in her mouth, Bulma slowly asked, "May we help you with something?"

The woman closed the gap between them, extending a hand and offering a sad smile. "Hi," she very politely greeted, "my name is Sasha Burns, and I am your social worker."


	14. Chapter 14

"Oh," Bulma softly gasped, taking the woman's hand, "My name is Bulma Briefs, and this is my fiancé, Raditz Son. I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you to be here so soon."

The woman offered a gentle smile. "That's alright," she gently responded, "no one is ever 'ready' when they're in this sort of situation. And I want to assure you that I am not here to hunt down flaws or to try to make this impossible for anyone. My job is simply to make sure that everyone here is taken care of."

As she realized that the social worker was looking for some form of response, Bulma let out a breath she had not been aware she had been holding. "I'm sorry," she apologized again, "I've been up for a while. It's taking my brain a little extra time to function at the moment."

Ms. Burns chuckled and shook her head. "You sound like a new mother already," she teased. She reached into the case she had been carrying and pulled out a file. "Now, I understand that this is a difficult time for all involved, but if it's alright with you, I think this is probably a good time to get this process started."

"Of course," Bulma responded, taking Raditz' hand as she went to sit down in the hospital chairs. "If you don't mind my asking," she politely questioned, "how did you know that we were the couple you were looking for?"

The social worker blushed slightly. "When I arrived, I interviewed the doctors and nurses for background information," she told them. "And when I asked if they had a picture or knowledge of any identifying marks to help me find you, the nurses told me that I was looking for a beautiful, blue haired young woman and a remarkably tall young man with remarkably long black hair. You were hard to miss."

Unconsciously rubbing his hand along the back of his head, Raditz blushed and looked away. "I guess I do stand out a little..."

"Yeah, but you're cute, so who cares?" Bulma teased. She turned her attention back to the worker. "So, Ms. Burns, what do we need to do?"

The social worker flipped open the folder and pulled out a couple forms. "Well, first and foremost I need to know exactly who you are. Name, social security number, some form of photo identification, the usual bit. Normally these situations allow all parties involved more time to get preliminary work done, but I hope that you understand why time is of the essence here."

"Of course," Bulma nodded. "I'm sorry, though, I don't have my ID with me. We were in a rush to get out the door, and..."

The woman shook her head, still smiling. "Don't worry about it," she gently assured. "I was not expecting to find everyone with their paperwork already in order." She made a notation on her papers, casually adding, "Just get it to me as soon as possible." She scribbled something else down before looking back up. "Why don't you two tell me a little about yourselves?"

With a nod that showed none of the nervousness she was feeling, Bulma began to tell her story. The first parts of her life were easy, as they were things that truthfully happened. When she got to her new life, she lied with such conviction that the woman never batted an eyelash.

Her performance was amazing.

/

Vegeta stirred in his chair before miserably waking up. It had been the first rest he had gotten in days, but it had not been nearly as refreshing as he had hoped. Trying to sleep in a stiff hospital chair did not do wonders for one's spine.

He did not actually get up, though. He could hear the conversation his companions were having with the social worker, and he made sure to listen in as intently as possible. There were strong odds that he was going to be interviewed later, and he needed to ensure that his answers went along with those that had already been given.

Although he did not give out praise often, he could admit to himself that the blue haired bitch was doing a spectacular job. She had an answer for every question, and she never once hesitated more than anyone else would simply recalling an event.

In his silence, he had time to reflect on all that had happened as of late. He had not wanted Bulma to join their group. In fact, he had been adamantly against the idea of bringing another person in. But as he lay there quietly in the hospital, he knew that they were lucky to have her. Her skills were unrivaled by anyone he had ever met. Her talent with electronics had given them heat, refrigeration, and a level of comfort they had not known in years. She had pulled her weight from day one, and had more than earned her place.

Their situation was not her fault, and he knew it. Even if she had not mentioned anything to the old man, Chi-Chi still would have been in critical condition and they still would have been screwed. True, knowing that the old man could pop up at any minute was not helping, but he was mature enough to understand that, had Bulma not been there to help, Chi-Chi and the child would likely both be dead.

He sincerely doubted that he would ever mention any of this to her. After all, her ego was big enough as it was and she hardly needed something else to brag about.

But she was saving their asses, and he knew it. Without her in the picture, there would have been no way at all for Goku and Chi-Chi to even hope to be with their son. Bulma gave them a bargaining chip that was too valuable to lose.

With great interest, he listened as she answered questions about her earlier life. He knew that she had been from an absurdly wealthy family, and since she had never mentioned otherwise, he had assumed that she had been a typical rich bitch brat. But as he listened, he learned things he never would have known.

She had spent the better part of her life in isolation. Despite the fact that she had an endless amount of money, she was not totally spoiled. In fact, with the exception of the labs she built her little projects in, she had lived a comparatively low key existence.

Her father had been a scientist and a businessman, one who had always put work first. He was a nice enough man, it seemed, but he was rarely seen at all. Between his office work, his laboratory work, and his seemingly endless business trips, Bulma had barely known her father at all.

Her mother, it appeared, was a perpetual airhead. The beauty queen extraordinaire, according to the former heiress, the mother was physically home but mentally in a world of her own. She had encouraged the wearing of skimpy outfits and the application of make-up from a young age, insisting that it was the only way for a girl to find herself a good man.

Neither had paid a particularly large amount of attention to her, but both were apparently very judgmental about certain things. Her mother, in particular, wanted to ensure that she would marry a 'young man of proper breeding'. There was a lot of prestige in that family, and they wanted to make sure that it followed the family name for generations.

As such, Bulma had apparently spent the overwhelming majority of her time working on her own private projects. Her scientific abilities were dominantly self-taught, and her genius mind had allowed her to thrive in that environment.

But because of her upbringing, she was more often than not an outcast in social activities. Wealth, beauty, and brains could garner a lot of attention, but without refined skills a person could only get so far. She had attended a traditional school when she was young, but she had been pulled from the system to be home schooled just before her teenage years. As such, she had no true friends her own age.

It took quite a bit of willpower for Vegeta to refrain from snorting in disdain at her story. Her parents were negligent and she was socially inept, but comparatively speaking she had still had a damn easy life. It had only been a few weeks since she had lost the luxury around her, and while he could accept that it was likely a hard transition, a few weeks living in an abandoned apartment did not compare to spending the majority of childhood going from spot to spot on the streets.

As he listened to the girl shift from her honest past to the necessary lies, Vegeta took careful mental notes on the more important details. According to the pair, Goku had gone to his brother soon after he had found out about Chi-Chi's pregnancy asking for help. Neither Goku nor Chi-Chi had wanted to completely forfeit their child, and did not want to put their son up for adoption. However, they understood that they did not have the ability to provide for a child. No matter how badly they wished otherwise, they knew that they were going to have to at least get some help. The parents were out of the question because past behavior had indicated that they were likely to try to keep the child to themselves. At least, that was how the couple had perceived it.

But Goku had trusted his brother enough to ask for help, and they had been discussing the possibility of having Raditz adopt the boy. They had not foreseen Chi-Chi's premature labor and had assumed that they still had three months to, which was why they were yet to hammer out details. They still did not have a concrete plan yet, but they were sure that Raditz would, at least temporarily, be the boy's legal guardian.

The social worker had no idea that Goku was adamantly opposed to letting his brother raise his son, and Vegeta planned to keep it that way. The taller boy was out cold, collapsed from stress and exhaustion, but Vegeta was going to make sure that someone talked to him before the social worker could. He was going to have to find a way to make sure that Chi-Chi was informed as soon as she came to, as well. Everyone had to be on the same page, or it was all going to go to hell in a hand basket.

He knew he should be trying to get more sleep. He knew that he was pushing his body to dangerous levels. He knew that if he did not get some real rest and ample nutrition soon, he was going to go down hard. But there was work that needed to be done, and as of that moment, he was the only person in the group who knew exactly what was going on. When all was said and done, he could take a break. Until then, though, he did not have a choice.

He was not going to let them down. He was not going to fail them.

Not again.

/

Ms. Burns nodded along, writing down any information she deemed necessary at the moment. She had not been given the time to do a proper background check of the couple yet, but as the girl had talked, she recognized who she was.

The Briefs heiress had gone completely off the grid after her parents were arrested. There was no record of her having even attempted to use her frozen assets, and no one had given any indication of her going to stay with friends or family after the event. Ms. Burns had wondered, from what little her magazines told her, where the girl had ended up and what had happened to her.

It appeared, though, that the girl was fine. She seemed more than a little worn down, but anyone would if they were in a hospital for the extremely premature birth of a loved one. She was perhaps a little underweight, but large amounts of stress and having a socialite mother both lent themselves to potential weight loss. While the social worker was planning on keeping an eye on potential signs of dangerous levels of stress in the girl, it really did seem as though she was more than holding up.

"Okay," she said, placing her pen down for a moment and looking up at the couple. "Well, there are a few options that we do have in this situation. There is, of course, the choice of an open adoption, where you two would legally become the child's parents, but your brother would still be able to call or visit, depending on the level of openness that you decide on. There is also the option of becoming foster guardians as well."

Bulma watched Vegeta out of the corner of her eye, and realized that he was completely awake when he twitched at the use of the phrase. While she did not have all the details, she knew that he had been in foster care as a child and had hated it enough to choose a life on the streets.

"Now," Ms. Burns went on, placing her clasped hands on her folder, "the decision does not have to be made yet, but the sooner an arrangement is arranged, the better it will be for all involved. Personally, I would recommend beginning as foster guardians to the boy. It is much easier to go from foster parents to adoptive parents, should that prove to be what the situation needs, than it is to adopt a child and trying to reunite with the birth parents later."

Bulma began to feel overwhelmed at the information given to her. It was so very, very much. But sitting at her side, Raditz calmly took her hand and offered a gentle squeeze. In spite of all the chaos going on, he remained perfectly calm. Feeling reassured, Bulma leaned her head against his broad shoulders and sighed in relief. Even if he was new to her, Raditz offered her a comfort she had not known since the day her life fell apart.

From across the room, through barely open eyes, Vegeta watched. His plan was working flawlessly. Everything was falling into place, just as calculated. The child would be cared for, Goku and Chi-Chi would still be able to see their son, and they would soon enough be able to return to their surviving. And without Chi-Chi being pregnant, it would become much, much easier.

The faux couple seemed as close as could be, and truly had chemistry. In fact, to an onlooker, the two appeared to actually be in love. It was just as Vegeta had designed.

And he could not understand it, he was not happy.


	15. Chapter 15

After another hour of talking, the social worker excused herself. When they were alone, Bulma slumped against Raditz' body. "That was exhausting," she dramatically sighed.

Offering her a chuckle, the twenty year old nodded. "Yeah, I could definitely use another cup of coffee. You want one?"

Bulma nodded, slowly getting to her feet. "I will take anything and everything loaded with caffeine that you have to offer." Slowly, she stretched out her extremely stiff back. "So, to the cafeteria?"

"Not for you," an angry voice growled from behind her.

The former heiress jumped with a start. "Geez, Vegeta, give a girl some warning before you do that! Seriously, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

The other teenager did not seem amused. "You need to get cleaned up," he commanded.

"Well, I guess I could get a little more of the dirt off in the bathroom," the blue haired beauty considered, "but I really did get most of it off earlier, and I don't know how much I could get off of my clothes just using a sink and low grade hand soap..."

"No," Vegeta interrupted, shifting his glare from Bulma to Raditz, "she needs a shower. If that hair gets any more disgusting, they're never going to buy this. Take her to your place, get her cleaned up, and get her back."

Raditz frowned. "Look, I understand what you're saying," he hesitantly started, "but it's not like I've got anything she could change into back at my apartment. What good is a shower if she's just going to put the same crap back on when she's done?"

"Hey!" Bulma snipped. "I will have you know that all things considered, my outfit is pretty damn cute!"

"And absolutely disgusting," Vegeta sneered. "You haven't changed in three days and you were working all day. You are literally standing in rags of your own sweat."

"So are you, you asshole!" Bulma hissed.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I'm not the one being judged right now," he retaliated. Choosing to ignore her for the moment, he once again shifted his gaze toward the eldest of the group. "You still in the same place?"

Raditz nodded. "Yeah, I'm still there."

"Good," Vegeta mumbled, considering something. "You take her to get cleaned up, and I'll go and grab all of her stuff from our place. I should be able to meet you there in about twenty minutes."

Frowning again, Raditz asked, "How are you going to get passed the front gate? I can't give you my card if we have to get there first."

"Don't worry about it," Vegeta waived off. "I can get in. Trust me."

"Somehow, that's not a reassuring thought..."

"Just shut up and go," Vegeta instructed. "We don't exactly have a lot of time here." Giving them a dismissive wave, he turned his focus to his sleeping friend a few feet away. Very quietly, he approached Krillen and shook the shorter teenager's shoulder. "Wake up."

Groaning, Krillen rolled over in the hard plastic chair. "Go away," he mumbled, burying his face deeper against his forearm. "No school today."

"No school in years," Vegeta responded, rolling his eyes. With significantly more force than he had used earlier, Vegeta rocked his friend out of the chair completely."

"Ack!" the tiny teen squawked, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Angrily, he rubbed his wounded head and glared at his oldest friend. "What the hell was that for?"

"For not waking up the first time," Vegeta grumpily explained. "Now listen up..."

For the next several minutes, Vegeta explained the plan, so far as they had one, to Krillen. It was vital that Krillen stay behind and keep things as under control as possible. Chi-Chi was out again and would probably stay that way for some time, her body drained and weak. Goku, emotionally distraught and severely sleep deprived and hungry, was in no condition to be doing much of anything. While Krillen had been working longer hours and eaten just as little, he was just barely emotionally distant enough from the situation to still be functioning with a fairly level head. If anything happened in the absence of the others, Vegeta was fairly sure that Krillen would be able to keep it under control.

The moment Vegeta was done explaining, he turned and left as quickly as he could. Sprinting out of a hospital could easily have been mistaken as suspicious behavior, and the last think any of them needed was to be scrutinized any closer. He walked at a firm pace out the front door, and maintained it as he rounded the corner. As soon as he was out of immediate range of the building, though, he took off at a dead sprint. There was no time to lose.

Vegeta ran as hard as he could, wasting no time at all on his way to their home. He reached their building in no time and made a straight line to the stairs, taking them two at a time without hesitation. His legs burned as he pushed his way up to the top floor, desperate for a break, but he refused to slow down.

He knew exactly where the girl kept her things, and he was quick to gather them up. While she kept her capsule case in a regular location, the capsules themselves had an unfortunate tendency to be spread out through several rooms. To make matters worse, it was very late and light was limited to their single lamp. Cursing furiously under his breath, the boy frantically looked for enough capsules to actually get all of her crap put away. The tools, in particular, were going to take up quite a bit of space.

Moving as quickly as his exhausted body would allow, Vegeta finished gathering Bulma's things and made his way out. The stairwell was pitch black, but he refused to let that slow him down. He did not even bother with the stairs, jumping each row of ten before landing on the platform of the floor below, relying strictly on memory to know where to go. He burst out into the cool night, pushing and pushing, refusing to give up time.

Raditz lived over four miles away, and Vegeta winced at the pain that was coursing through his body. Covering that distance in a short time with his level of fatigue was going to be horrible.

He was much slower than he had been earlier when he had first retrieved Goku's brother. He forced his body to keep running, but there was only so much a body could do without food or rest. It was well over half an hour before he reached the outside of Raditz' apartment building, and Vegeta was beyond exhausted.

However, his mission was not over yet. If he remembered correctly, there was a fire escape around the back of the building that would get him close to his destination. Battling the burning sensation in his arms and legs, Vegeta forced himself to climb over the gate around back. Silently, he climbed onto the top of a dumpster and jumped for the base of the fire escape. When he tried to pull his body up onto it, though, his muscles protested. His arms spasmed as he tried to force them to work, and he almost lost his grip altogether.

"Shit," he swore, barely maintaining his hold on the bottom bar. His body was far more worn down than he had given it credit for. Praying that no one would catch him, Vegeta used what little energy he had to flip his body and allow his leg to catch the bar. As quietly as he could, he wrapped his other leg around as well before twisting up and climbing the rest of the way onto the escape.

Starving and exhausted, he slowly and methodically climbed higher and higher, eventually reaching the floor he was aiming for. The escape he had been climbing did not connect directly to any of the apartments, only to the hallway between them. However, the windows leading out to it were regularly locked from the inside, and much to Vegeta's chagrin, that practiced appeared to have been maintained.

The teenager glanced to his left. He could see another window, one that would actually lead directly into Raditz' apartment. However, there was nothing directly underneath it. He would have to jump from the escape, grab the ledge, and pray like hell that he could get himself up and into it without plummeting five stories.

Vegeta cringed. Not five minutes ago he had struggled just to get on to the fire escape, and that was a far easier and less dangerous task than that which he was contemplating. But without making the jump to the window, he could think of no other way in. He wished there was a way to go in the front door, but he could not think of one that would not later present an issue. True to what Bulma had told him back at the hospital, he looked like hell. He was unescorted, he was not a tenant of the building, he lacked any form of identification, and he looked almost as bad as he felt. He had a sinking feeling that even ATTEMPTING to get to the front to have Raditz buzz him in would result in the police being called, and that was the last thing Vegeta wanted to risk.

Seeing no other feasible option, the boy stood on top of the railing and drew a deep breath, readying his balance. He closed his eyes, praying to any deity that would hear him to not let him fall to his death, exhaled, and jumped.

Time seemed to slow down as he flew through the air. It was not until the ball of his foot had fully left the bar below that Vegeta fully understood just how bad an idea it was. There was absolutely no room for error. The only things beneath him were a fifty foot drop and a dirty asphalt landing. In that brief second, Vegeta could hear his heart beating in his ears. Reaching out as far as he could, he made a desperate grab for the window ledge.

For the first time in his life, luck was at least slightly on his side. His fingers wrapped viciously around the ledge, and he held on as though his life depended on it. His face slammed against the edge of the building, cracking his nose in the force, but he refused to let go. Though he did let out a grunt, he miraculously managed to keep his profuse swearing strictly inside his head. Drawing an audience as he tried to climb into the window could not possibly end well.

That last little bit of adrenaline he had in his system gave him just barely enough strength to swing a leg up onto the wide windowsill and pull his body into an upright position. Refusing to look down, he very softly rapped on the window, hoping that at least one member of the 'happy couple' would assist him.

/

Bulma reveled under the hot spray. It had been over a month since the last time she had taken a real shower, and she had forgotten just how glorious the sensation could be. Every muscle in her body relaxed under the almost scalding hot water, and an enormous smile spread on her face. It was such a heavenly sensation that she thought she could stay in there forever.

Reaching down, she grabbed the bottle of shampoo from the corner of the tub. While her childhood had been filled with expensively fragrant soaps, she found herself almost thrilled at the simple generic shampoo available to her. Becoming purely clean again was amazing. The dirt, the grime, the sweat, even her stress and fear seemed to wash down the drain, disappearing forever.

Suddenly, a bang sounded against the wall, and she jumped in alarm, slipping to the floor of the slick tub. As she muttered a quiet, "Ow," she peaked her head out from around the curtain, curious as to what could have created such a noise. As the shadow of a person began to rise outside the foggy window, her curiosity turned to fear and she let out a blood curdling scream.

The next few things happened so quickly that Bulma could barely process it all as it happened. Raditz was knocking on the door, asking if she was okay. Too busy screaming to give a legitimate answer, Bulma was caught off guard as her faux fiancé began trying to enter through the door. The shadowy figure in the window seemed to be trying to get in, and there was very little to hide behind in the small room.

The door burst open as Raditz broke through, and the large man entered. "What is it?" he demanded.

Bulma still found herself unable to talk, though her screaming had subsided to a serious of frantic whimpers. Having a big strong protector in the room actually managed to calm her down a significant amount. Still shaking, she managed to get the majority of her body wrapped in the shower curtain as she pointed to the stranger at the window.

Raditz approached the window quickly, but hesitated right before he got there. With an extremely annoyed sigh, he realized what was going on. "Damn it, Vegeta," he called out, lowering the window, "was that really the best you could come up with?"

"Shut up," Vegeta grunted. The relief he felt at being allowed in was not evident on his face, but it rushed through his body even faster than the blood was rushing down his chin. Raditz stepped back, intent on allowing the younger man to climb through on his own, but one more look at the shaky teenager had him reaching through to assist him. Vegeta practically fell in, and would most likely have collapsed on the floor if not for the support offered by Raditz.

"Here," he grumbled, reaching into his back pocket and handing the capsule case over. "This is everything she had with us."

Nodding, Raditz took the case. "Thanks," he responded. Frowning, he studied Vegeta's face. "Grab some tissue before you hemorrhage to death."

With an indiscernible growl, Vegeta complied and covered his heavily bleeding nose. He opened his mouth to say something else, but he was interrupted by the bar of soap that flew passed his head.

"Have you two totally lost your minds?" she hissed. "I am _naked_ here! Get out!"

Raditz scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed as he turned around and began to leave, but Vegeta stalled. "You know," he said, his voice muted by the tissues on his face, "if you really wanted to be modest, you would have wrapped yourself in a towel instead of a clear shower curtain."

Letting out an indignant shriek, Bulma threw the shampoo bottle at him. A low chuckle escaped Vegeta as he ducked out, calling out, "Not bad!" as he left through the broken door.

Out in the kitchen, Raditz had a dish rag placed on the table. "Kid, get over here."

Though Vegeta wanted to protest, he knew that he was technically in Raditz' debt and did as he was told. Following wordless directions, he took a seat near the table and lowered the tissues.

Raditz frowned, studying the nose. "I think you might have broken it," he seriously said.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "It's not the first time," the younger of the pair pointed out. "I can take care of it as soon as the shrew is out of the bathroom."

"Or what's left of it," Raditz muttered, looking back at the cracked door. "I'm going to have to get that fixed."

"Pay for anything with cash," Vegeta counseled, hissing slightly as he touched his injured nose. "You're going to have a home inspection soon. They might check your records. Don't let them find out that the door broke."

Raditz raised an eyebrow. "You really have an answer for everything, don't you?" he said, getting to his feet.

With a mild shrug, Vegeta resumed pressure on his bleeding nose. "I know the system," he casually said. "Trust me, more than one person let me know how much they went through so I could have the 'honor' of crashing with them for six weeks."

Raditz let out a snort as he opened the refrigerator. "Wow, sounds like you got paired up with some real winners."

"You're telling me," Vegeta grumpily responded. A wrapped sandwich landed in front of him, and he looked over to his companion.

"Eat it," Raditz commanded. "Then clean up and sleep on the couch."

Vegeta tried to let out a snort, but his broken nose would not allow him to. "I do not take charity," he bitterly replied.

"Charity my ass," Raditz shot back. "If we're going to pull off any part of this ridiculous stunt you've set up, we need you alive. I am not figuring this mess out, and I'm leaving it completely up to you. That means you need food and rest." He scrunched up his nose before adding, "If you think you're laying down on my couch before you clean up, you've got another thing coming."

Normally he would have fought back, but finally sitting down allowed Vegeta feel the full weight of exhaustion. His eyes felt heavy, and even the thought of unwrapping the sandwich seemed daunting. It was extremely tempting to just put his head down on the kitchen table and black out.

"Oh, no you don't," Raditz said, quickly approaching the teenager and propping him up. "You are not falling asleep until I'm sure you're not going to choke to death on your own blood in the back of your throat."

"Shut up," Vegeta muttered, drifting off slightly. "I'm fine."

"No, you're insane," Raditz countered, leaning Vegeta back in his chair. "Look, you just stay awake, and I'll get you an ice pack or something."

"I'm fine," the younger one muttered again, his eyes completely closed.

Raditz frowned. The kid was out, and needed the rest, but he was still afraid that Vegeta down might actually end up killing the guy.

Several minutes later, Bulma shyly emerged from the bathroom, the long towel wrapped tightly against her slender frame. "Um, I think you have my clothes," she called out.

From around the corner, within the kitchen, Raditz emerged. "Oh, yeah," he plainly said, grabbing the case from the spot on the couch he had dropped it on. "Here you go."

Coyly, the former heiress reached out and took it, making sure her grip on the towel would not falter. Bulma quirked a blue eyebrow at her alleged lover, noticing something in the crux of his elbow. "Where did the little jackass go?"

"Kitchen," he calmly answered. "Um, listen, could you get dressed and then watch him for a while?"

Bulma frowned. "Why would I watch him?"

Raditz walked passed her, grabbing his jacket off the couch. "Nothing major," he casually said, sliding it on, "just make sure he keeps breathing."

"_What_?" the blue haired beauty shrieked.

Rolling his eyes, Raditz zipped up the front of his jacket. "Look, if it looks like he's having trouble breathing, just shake the living daylights out of him until he wakes up. He'll take care of the rest on his own."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Bulma cried, running out in front of him and completely forgetting that she was clad in nothing but a towel. "What the hell is going on?"

"Vegeta's nose is broken, but he passed out before he could set it," he calmly explained. "Listen, I've known Vegeta off and on for years. He gets himself into crazy shit all the time, but the psychopath really can take care of himself pretty well. I need to go out and get a couple things for us, and I just need to know that he doesn't, you know, die in my apartment." He reached out and grabbed his wallet, tucking it into his back pocket. "I'll be back in twenty minutes or so."

He left then, leaving the stunned eighteen year old girl dripping wet in the living room. Hesitantly, Bulma walked over and rounded the into the kitchen, shocked at the sight before her. Vegeta was propped up in one of the chairs, a blood soaked rag on his lap and another on the kitchen table. His chin was coated with drying, clotting blood that had made it down to his shirt. He was definitely still breathing, but the mild gurgling sound coming from the back of his throat there had to be more than a little blood in there.

Bulma pulled out the next seat over and slowly sat down, staring at the boy in front of her. Vegeta had been a pain in the ass since day one, but he had obviously been the driving force of the group. He was smart in a way she had privately envied, and he was determined as hell. But he had gone above and beyond, and it was obviously costing him dearly. And as she watched him, unconscious from starvation and exhaustion and barely breathing from a broken nose, she could not help the smile that crossed her face.

He was a son of a bitch, but he was one damn impressive guy.


	16. Chapter 16

"How's he doing?" Raditz asked, shrugging off his jacket as he entered his home.

Bulma looked up and gave her fiancé a smile. "Well, he's not dead," she responded with a chuckle. "He gurgled for a little while, and I shook him awake long enough to hack out _that_," she sneered, pointing to a disgusting red glob on the towel, "but he fell asleep again about five seconds after he was done."

The tall young man grimaced at what had become of his towel. "Well, that's…disgusting."

"It really is," Bulma agreed with a chuckle. "So, what did you get while you were out?"

Quirking an eyebrow, Raditz put down the two bags he had been carrying. "I got some food for us," he responded, digging through the bags. "And I got some cash to get what I'll need to fix the door." As he began to put the groceries away, he glanced back over at the blue haired eighteen year old. "Not that I mind or anything, but were you planning to put clothes on? Or were you just going to stay in that towel all day?"

With horror in her eyes, Bulma realized that she was dressed in nothing more than the green towel she had left the bathroom in. "Oh my God!" she cried, wrapping her arms tightly around her body.

"So, you'll be getting dressed then?" Raditz teased, his focus back on the cupboards.

Too embarrassed to talk, Bulma snatched her capsule case and ran for the bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind her and trying not to hear the laughing from the other room. "Oh my God," she whimpered again. "I can't believe I just spent all that time with them in a _towel!_" Despite the fact that she had already locked the door, she clutched the towel tightly against her chest as she popped open her capsule. Quickly looking through her clothes, she picked out her cleanest set and threw them on. They were not as clean as she would have liked them to be, but they were the best she had.

With a timid look on her face, Bulma slid out of the bedroom. "Um, all dressed," she nervously laughed.

"Aw, and here I thought I was going to get to see you in a towel all day long," Raditz mock pouted.

"It's night," the former heiress pointed out.

Raditz rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean, dingus." He placed down the knife in his hand and turned to the young woman before him. "Here," he offered, handing her a plate, "eat this."

With a smile on her face, Bulma took the dish. It contained a sandwich, nothing more, but the act alone was so kind. That little turkey sandwich with mustard and mayonnaise, cut in nice little triangles, made her feel a warm little glow in her soul that she had not felt in a long time. "Thank you," she softly said, blushing as she looked up at him.

"Hey, not a problem," the tall young man answered, making one for himself. "Can't have my little woman starving to death, can I?"

"Well, you could," the beauty teased back, taking a seat on the couch, "but then you'd be kind of an asshole, and quite frankly, I don't think it would do this whirlwind romance a world of good."

Laughing, Raditz finished making his own sandwich and sat down next to the girl. They ate in silence, save the occasional gurgling noises coming from the injured teenager. They took turns getting up to get the boy to clear his throat, and there was an abundance of hand washing done, but other than that the meal went peacefully. As she popped the last little bit of crust in her mouth, Bulma sighed contently and leaned against the large body beside her.

"This is nice," she softly said, closing her eyes for a moment. "I haven't felt this good in a long time." Slowly, she opened her big blue eyes and glanced at the boy in the chair. "Do you think he'll be alright?"

Giving a small shrug, and moving Bulma's head slightly in the process, Raditz responded, "Probably."

With a coy look on her face, Bulma looked up at her intended. "Do you know his story?" she asked, keeping her voice low. "I mean, do you know about how his brother died?"

Raditz sat bolt upright, knocking the young beauty off in the process. "How his _what_ did _what_?" he asked, staring at the girl. "When the hell did that happen? Hell, _what_, exactly, happened?"

"Oh, crap, you don't know?" Bulma squeaked, shying away. "Oh, God, you can't tell him that I told you that! He doesn't even know that _I_ know yet! Promise me, Raditz. Promise me you won't tell him that I told you!" With a whimper, the former heiress threw and arm over her eyes. "I'm so sorry, I thought you would have known!"

"How the hell could I have known?" Raditz hissed back, praying that Vegeta could not hear them. "It's not like I've ever spent a hell of a lot of time with the guy!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that?" Bulma hissed back. "For God's sake, I only met the guy a month ago, and you two talk to each other like you've known each other all your lives! I thought you'd be a good source for information!"

With a huff, Raditz slouched down on the couch. "I really don't know where you got this idea that Vegeta and I are friends," he bitterly returned. "Hell, I've spent years blaming him for my brother's disappearance. Why would I be friends with him?"

"Because you seemed to know each other so well!" Bulma shot back, her cheeks flushing from a combination of embarrassment and anger. "You were acting like you went way back!"

"No, we were acting as though we had a vague shared history together but had a common goal to currently achieve," Raditz corrected. "Now what the hell were you talking about? Vegeta's got a dead brother?"

With a miserable groan, Bulma flopped all the way down on the couch. "Oh, God, don't ask about that," she pleaded. "I've already said way too much."

"And that's why you have to finish," Raditz insisted. "Now spill."

"Look, I don't know much," the former heiress replied, barely peaking up at the tall young man. "All I've gotten from the others so far is that he had a younger brother named Tarble and that Tarble is dead. That's all I've got. That's why I wanted to know more."

"Damn," Raditz muttered, looking to the battered boy in the kitchen. "No wonder he's got such a stick up his ass over everything." Sadly shaking his head, the mechanic got to his feet and collected the plates. "Here, I've got it."

Shyly, Bulma offered a quiet thank you and looked away. "I can't believe how much you're doing for us," she quietly spoke.

After loading the crumb covered plates into the dishwasher, Raditz returned to take a seat on the couch. "He's my brother," he explained as though it was the most obvious thing ever. "I may have given him a couple wedgies in the past and put him in several dozen headlocks, but he's still my kid brother and I'm still going to help him." He spared the girl at his side a glance before adding, "If you had any siblings, you'd understand."

"I guess," the scientist consented. "I always wanted one, but the few times I brought it up with my parents, they said they could barely handle one of me." She cast a sideways glance toward Vegeta and frowned. "If brothers are that close, then I can't even begin to imagine what Vegeta must have felt like when he lost his."

"I can," Raditz quietly responded. He stared at his hands, clasped firmly in his lap, and refused to look up. "When Goku disappeared, I mean, _really_ disappeared, I thought that something had gone horribly wrong. There was a part of me that was sure my brother had died and that no one had bothered to tell me." Tightening his grip on his hands, he grit out, "That's when I moved out."

Bulma sat back up, staring at her betrothed. "What?"

Sighing, Raditz sat back. He still refused to look at her. "Our parents gave up on Goku the minute he walked out the door," he bit out. "They told him he could either stay and have a good life, or he could live on the streets with some floozy who would never stay with him. And when Goku walked out that door without any hesitation, our parents disowned him. It…it opened my eyes to how pitiful our hold as a family was." His eyes fluttered closed as he thought back to those days, so long ago and repressed that he had almost managed to forget them. "When they cut him loose, I realized that meant they could do the same to me in a flash. A week later I found this place and signed a lease."

"How did your parents react to you moving out?" Bulma gently asked.

"Oh, fine," Raditz sneered. "They found out when I told them I was borrowing their truck to move my furniture, and they had a conniption when I drove off without their blessing. I brought them their damn truck back, but they didn't want to talk to me about it. They told me to move home or else."

Bulma frowned slightly. "Or else what?" she sincerely asked. "I mean, it sounds like you had already achieved independence."

"That was my thought," Raditz replied with a smirk. "So I left. I talk to them once in a while, but they've still never been here. I never invited, they never asked."

Once again adjusting herself so that she was leaning against Raditz' large frame, Bulma sighed. "That sounds so sad," she told him. "I can't imagine having a family that would just cut me off like that. Or one where I even considered it a risk, for that matter. My parents never even _threatened_ to do that." She nuzzled up against his shoulder before adding a mumbled, "Didn't really do me a world of good, though."

Looking down at the girl, Raditz cleared his throat. "Look, I know you don't want to hear this," he gently began, "but I really do think you should go talk to your parents."

Bulma was up in a flash, hurt and anger in her eyes. "You promised you weren't going to bring that up again!" she accused.

"No, I tap danced around it," Raditz pointed out. "And for good reason. Bulma, you clearly miss your parents, and unlike mine, yours never deliberately pushed you away. Yeah, they made mistakes. Big ones. I'm not denying that for a second. But from what you've told me, they weren't half bad parents. Besides, for a white collar crime like theirs? Even if they are convicted, odds are they're going to be out in a few years. What are you going to do then if you've never talked to them? You'll be married, with a kid. You don't think they'll notice that?"

As fiercely as she could, Bulma slammed a fist into her intended's broad chest. Unfortunately, the human sternum was a lot harder than the little scientist gave it credit for, and she yanked her fist back in pain. "Son of a bitch!" she hissed, shaking out the injured appendage. "Why are you so damn solid?"

"Because that's what bones do," Raditz replied, rubbing his sore chest. "You know, you've really got to get that damn temper of yours under control. That's going to leave a bruise."

"My knuckles are fine," Bulma haughtily shot.

"Yeah, but my chest isn't."

In an instant, Bulma's face flushed red. "Oh, God, I'm sorry," she genuinely apologized. "I swear, I've never been violent before. I don't know where it's coming from, but I'll get it under control. I am so, so sorry!"

Raditz rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around the flustered girl. "Yeah, I could tell by your form that you're new at this," he chuckled. "Like I said, get it under control. I have to be able to mention your parents around you without you going all ballistic on me."

Once again, Bulma nestled up against the large, warm body at her side. "You're the best," she told him. "I don't know how I ever got along without you."

"Just barely, would be my guess," the tall boy teased. "God knows you're insane."

"Yeah, but that's what makes me fun."

With another chuckle, Raditz gave the girl a gentle squeeze. "It makes you interesting, I'll give you that."

Bulma wriggled up slightly, looking Raditz in the eye carefully as another blush spread across her cheeks. "You know," she delicately began, placing a hand squarely on his broad chest, "we are supposed to be in love, and getting ready to get married."

Raditz raised an eyebrow, curious but quiet as she talked.

"And if we're ready to get married," the girl continued, "then we've obviously gotten at least to first base with one another. They would probably find it strange for a young couple in love to never be seen sharing a kiss."

"And?" the tall boy prodded.

"And," Bulma explained, leaning in a little more, "the entire plan could fall apart if we try it the first time with an audience. You know, in case we giggle or hesitate or something. So really, it's in everyone's best interest if we practice a little while we're in your home." She pulled herself up all the way, wrapping her slender arms around his broad neck. "You know, for the sake of the others."

The smirk on Raditz' face deepened. "Well, we wouldn't want to do anything to hurt the others, now, would we?" he deeply replied, pulling the girl in closer. "And you have brought up several good points."

"Like I said," the former heiress went on, her voice soft and breathy as she leaned in, "it's for the good of the group."

"Absolutely," Raditz agreed, nuzzling his nose against hers. "The good of the group."

Slowly, they closed the gap between them and pressed their lips together. It was soft and tender, both gently feeling out the response of the other. Even though they had met under false pretenses, and even though everything had been falling apart around them, the kiss felt so right. Bulma pulled on Raditz' neck, trying to bring him closer, and in response he ran his hand through her hair and held her tight. They explored slightly, playing around with running tongue over lip, and melted right into it. Neither one of them felt any awkwardness at all. Neither one of them hesitated for even an instant.

And neither one of them noticed the hurt and angry expression of the boy who had woken up in the kitchen.


	17. Chapter 17

Vegeta did not say a word as he got to his feet. The combination of the clotting blood in the back of his throat mixed with the display on the couch gave him the overwhelming urge to hurl. He shook a little as he stood up, his body still running on virtually nothing, and as he tried to take his first step, he collapsed in a bloody heap.

As he hit the ground hard, spitting congealed blood from his mouth, the couple on the couch jumped up with a start. They had been so caught up in the moment that they had momentarily forgotten that the wounded boy was in the apartment. "Oh, Vegeta!" Bulma quickly said, getting to her feet. "Let me help you!" She ran up to the fallen boy and reached for him, but he furiously batted her away as he spat up more blood.

"I don't need your help!" he angrily panted, his head still down and gore still dripping from him. However, as he tried to get back on his feet by himself, he discovered that he lacked the physical strength to even get close. Bulma tried again to help him, but once again he refused to let her. He might have been weak, he might have been in pain, and he might have been barely conscious, but he still had his pride, and he would not let her compromise that. She tried a third time, and though what little strength he had was fading fast, he fought her off. "No!" he insisted. "I don't need your help!"

"Not hers," Raditz said, roughly grabbing the smaller boy by the arms, "mine." While Vegeta tried to fight off his benefactor, he miserably discovered that he was far too feeble to hope to get out of the grasp.

"God damn it, put me down!" Vegeta bellowed, gasping at the end. He gurgled again, trying to get rid of the remaining blood in his throat, and being thrown onto the couch by Raditz did not help at all. "What the hell is wrong with you, you son of a bitch?"

"Less than what's wrong with you," the mechanic grumbled, wiping a trace amount of blood off his hand and onto his jeans. "Now you sit your ass down on that couch until you're actually well enough to go."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You can't tell me what to do!" he growled back.

"Sure I can," Raditz shot back. "I'm bigger than you, I'm stronger than you, and I'm the linchpin that your God damned plan is based off of. Face it, brat, I own you."

Vegeta opened his mouth, but froze a moment before any words could come out. Raditz was right. The smaller of them did not have the proverbial leg to stand on. Vegeta was not only extremely weak at that moment, but unbelievably in debt. Though it killed him to admit it, Vegeta knew damn well that for the next few months, he was not going to be the one in control. "What do you want?" he mumbled, refusing to look Raditz in the eye.

Raditz shook his head and placed a hand on Vegeta's shoulder, laying him back. "I want you to stay on the couch until you've actually eaten something," he commanded, "and then I want you to take a nap, and then you're taking a damn shower because you look like hell. You got that?"

Without saying a word, Vegeta nodded and stayed where he belonged. His eyes were still lowered, and he could not bring himself to raise them. Vegeta hated being indebted more than almost anything, but he knew the value of paying his dues. He had seen enough people welch on a deal to know that it ended very, very badly. Silently, he laid back on the couch in a sign of compliance.

As Raditz went to go grab food for the wounded boy, Bulma watched in a quiet awe. In the weeks that she had known the short teenager, she had never once seen him bow down to anyone. Playing humble in order to get them a job she had seen. After all, that was more con-artistry than anything else. It was a false persona to get what he wanted. But the way he had bowed down to her fiancé, the way he had miserably folded to compliance, it was different. That loss of control in him was clearly a brutal blow, and Bulma had not missed that.

"Um, I'm…I'm going to go get something to drink," the former heiress stammered out, quickly leaving the area. She could not go far; the apartment was only about six hundred square feet and anything not in the bedroom or bathroom was always at least partially visible. However, she felt that she definitely needed some distance from her friend. Something about Vegeta's behavior seemed so wrong to her, and she needed her space to think about it.

/

Krillen curled up in the chair and sipped on the coffee, trying to conserve what little warmth he could. While the hospital was heated better than their apartment was, but the blankets at home more than compensated for that. Those blankets were one of Krillen's favorite comforts, and trying to feel calm without one nearby was not nearly as easy as he would have hoped. He was not necessarily cold, per se, but he was not nearly as warm as he wanted to be either. Fortunately for him, Raditz had slipped him enough money for several cups of coffee and a decent sized snack, and it was exactly what the diminutive teenager needed. It was not his blanket, but it could keep him running a while longer yet.

Taking a long, appreciative sip, Krillen closed his eyes. "Ah, sweet caffeinated goodness," he sighed, savoring the warmth. The past few days had been brutal on them all, and something so seemingly simple as a cup of coffee and a sandwich was downright heavenly.

"Looks like you're feeling a little better," a voice called from behind him.

Krillen jumped out of his seat, nearly spilling his brew all over his lap. Still shaking considerably, he slowly turned and looked at the little nurse who snuck up on him. "Uh…uh…hi?" he stammered out.

The nurse chuckled. "Hi," she returned. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"Startle me?" Krillen nervously laughed. "You didn't startle me! I was just…uh…"

"Caught off guard?" the nurse supplied, still laughing gently at the shaking teen. "Honey, there is nothing wrong with being startled, especially when you're tired and stressed. And I promise not to tell anyone that you were scared by little ol' me." With a brilliant smile, she took a seat next to the boy and handed him a cup of water. "Here, drink this."

With a shy look, Krillen fidgeted the paper coffee cup in his hands. "Thanks," he sincerely said, "but I already got a drink."

"Water and coffee are two very different things to your kidneys," the nurse pointed out, pushing the water cup aggressively toward the boy but never breaking her smile. "Take it from an old pro and drink it. It would be such a shame for you to help your friends out only to end up with a kidney stone."

A very noticeable blush spread across Krillen's cheeks. "Um, are those bad?"

"You ever hear stories of how horrible it is for a woman to give birth?" the nurse asked back.

Wordlessly, Krillen nodded.

"Same level, if not worse."

Krillen did not waste another second before snatching the paper cup and upending its contents, and the nurse giggled at him as he did. "Slow down a little, kiddo," she instructed, her merriment evident. "You need to keep the water steady, but if you just chug it, it'll make you sick."

Again, Krillen blushed. "Um, thanks," he sincerely said. "For all of it."

The nurse smiled gently at the teenager. "Can't let a sweet kid like you crash just because you don't get enough water, now, can I?" she told him. "You and your little friend have barely had anything at all since you got here, and I'm not going to let you fall apart because you didn't get something that's free." A moment of silence passed between them before the nurse sighed and shook her head. "You may want to start getting ready," she gently counseled.

Raising his eyebrows, Krillen asked, "Ready for what?"

"For what you're going to tell the social worker when she gets back," the nurse explained. "She's going to ask all of you how this situation started and where you're planning to go from here. She's also going to be trying to get a comprehensive picture of what the birth parents are like." When the boy beside her suddenly looked very nervous, the nurse offered a reassuring smile. "It's nothing personal against you or your friends, it's just her job," she went on. "She needs to know these things and file the paperwork so that the courts will be able to decide where the baby is going to be best cared for."

"They're good people," Krillen quietly defended, never breaking eye contact from the woman. "Goku and Chi-Chi would be the best parents ever."

Gently taking the empty water cup back, the nurse nodded. "I don't doubt that," she told him. "I have seen a lot of teenaged parents come through this maternity ward, and most of them are so immature or drugged out to even start to take care of another life. Your entire little set of friends are definitely more adult than most your own age, and from what I can tell, you seem like you would do anything for the welfare of that child." As she put the cup on an empty chair beside them, she shook her head subtly. "The fact that they're willing to let someone else take him when they clearly want him so badly is proof enough for me that they'll put him first."

"Then why does she need to get info on them?" Krillen asked.

Turning back to look at the teenager, the nurse put a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, this is not to make them look like bad or unfit parents," she informed him. "If anything, it will help them when they want to get him back. This is just a formality that all families in these situations have to go to. I have seen it a thousand times before, kiddo. It's the same process for everyone." The nurse gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze and smiled. "I just wanted you to have a heads up so you don't panic when she comes to talk to you." Offering him one last pat on the shoulder, the tiny woman got up and returned to her station.

Still slightly dazed by the conversation, Krillen looked down at the paper coffee cup that had never left his other hand. They were going to question him? They were going to question _all_ of them? About _Goku_ and _Chi-Chi_? The cover stories that everyone knew were for Bulma and Raditz. After all, they were the ones who were going to take the baby home in the end. How on earth were they going to explain where they lived? How they survived? Technically, they were stealing both water and electricity in their apartment, not to mention trespassing to begin with. He needed a story, a good one, and he would probably need it soon. But the scheming had always been Vegeta's job, and for good reason. The grumpy teenager had a gift for playing any person and any system to suit his needs, a gift that clearly none of the others were close to.

However, Vegeta was not there. Krillen racked his brain, trying to figure out where he could look for his oldest friend. _He's at the apartment…or at Raditz' place…or…somewhere…_

Vegeta was not there. That was what it boiled down to in the end. Vegeta was not there, and may not return before they needed to have a plan ready.

Still staring into the cooling cup in his hand, Krillen desperately began to try to think of something.

/

Goku mumbled something incoherent as his head was moved from side to side. He had been taking a nap for a short while, but he had been so exhausted that the second his head went down, he was out like a light. It had not been long since then, but he was already so deep that he barely noticed his body being lightly jostled around.

"Goku," a soft voice called out, "wake up."

Once again, the new father simply made an undiscernibly small noise. A part of him did not want to wake up, and that part was definitely winning the battle.

But the other force was one to be reckoned with, and refused to give up. "Goku!" the voice called out again, shaking him harder. "Rise and shine!"

With a scowl on his face, Goku sat up slightly and rubbed his tired eyes. "What?" he mumbled, trying to blink the sleep from his eyes. "Chi-Chi?"

The eighteen year old girl shifted her legs uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, sweetie," she sincerely apologized. "I know how tired you are, but your head was on my legs and they were falling asleep." Her own fatigue showing, she scoot her legs to one side of the bed, clearing a little room. "If you want to put your head down now…"

"No, I'm up, I'm up," Goku insisted, letting out a yawn. "How are you doing?"

Chi-Chi looked down at the blankets covering her body. "I don't know," she honestly answered, her voice suddenly getting very quiet. "I…I keep crying now and then, and I just can't seem to stop it. I know that it's, you know, hormones. After all, I did just…just…" The tears began rolling down her cheeks again, and Chi-Chi fisted her hands as she crossed her arms defensively across her chest. "…have a baby…"

That was as far as she got before breaking down in a sob. It was all just too much for her to take any more. She simply could no longer keep the brave face on. Between her still fading fever and the horrible birthing experience she had just gone through, the poor girl was too overwhelmed to function. She had fought fiercely to get what had to be done complete, to make sure her baby would be alright, but she could not do it any longer. It was all too much for her to bear.

In a flash, Goku had his arms wrapped around his girlfriend's trembling frame. He had been suffering almost as much as she had. In just a few days, he had gone from feeling like the luckiest guy in the world to losing his new son. His friends kept telling him that it was for the best, but he could not believe them. Not wholly. There was no way that being taken away from your mom and dad could be the best thing for a kid. They had to be wrong. There had to be a way.

Chi-Chi clung to Goku's shirt, her fists clenched so tight that her knuckles were almost completely white. "I don't want to do this," she sobbed. "I don't want to lose my baby! I don't want someone I barely know to have him! He's _my_ son! _I_ carried him! _I_ loved him! _I_ protected him! _I_ gave birth to him! It's not fair!" Miserably, she burrowed into his shoulder, trying to hide her tears in his shirt. "It's not fair," she whispered, crying still. "It's not fair…"

It was not fair at all. They had worked long and hard for their son. Their entire group had. The others had all pitched in and fought to make sure that the baby would have everything he would need. But it had all been for nothing. After all of his work, after all of his love, after everything he had done, Goku was going to have to hand his son over to his brother. The brother he had not seen in years. The brother he no longer knew.

It was not right in Goku's mind. Raditz and Bulma had not earned a son. They were new. They had skipped the hardest parts. They did not know just how much he and Chi-Chi had sacrificed to be parents. They were not worthy of taking his son.

As Chi-Chi continued to quietly cry, Goku silently pat her on the back, trying his hardest not to sniff as his own quiet tears flowed. It was not right. Chi-Chi did not deserve the pain. She did not deserve her suffering. She had every right to leave with her child in her arms.

And Goku would do anything he could to make that happen.


	18. Chapter 18

As Krillen felt his eyelids starting to droop, his near empty coffee cup was taken from his hands. "Hey," the tiny teenager mumbled, feebly reaching for it, "give that back."

"I'll do you one better," a gentle voice told him, replacing the cold Styrofoam with a hot replacement.

Still groggy, Krillen opened his eyes all the way and stabilized the new cup in his hand. "Oh, thanks," he muttered. The exhausted teenager took a nice, long sip from the beverage before even looking up to see who his benefactor was. Blinking a few times, he just barely made out the form of his friend. "Thanks, Goku," he sincerely said, swallowing the last bit of drink in his mouth, "This is great."

"No problem," Goku said, sitting in the next chair over and drinking his own coffee cup. "God knows I needed some, and since I bought my cup with the change in your jacket pocket, so it only fair that I got a cup for you too."

Taking a long sip from his coffee cup, Krillen closed his eyes and savored the sensation. "Ah, artificial stimulation. Where would we be without it?" he sighed. One more long sip was taken before he opened his eyes and looked at his tall friend. "I can't wait until all of this is settled enough for this to take a break," he confessed. "I actually can't remember the last time I slept through an entire night, and I am so sleeping for a week straight as soon as I get the chance."

"Yeah, about that," Goku started, adjusting in the chair, "I need your help."

Sitting up a little straighter, Krillen looked at his friend and gave him a serious look. "Yeah, of course, anything you need," he quickly answered. "You name it and I'm there for you, buddy. Just tell me what you need help with and I am here to help you!"

Goku chuckled slightly. "Eager to please?" he gently teased. When Krillen kicked him gently in the forearm, he only laughed harder. "What, making fun of you isn't a great way to get you to help me?"

"Not as such, no," the smaller teen grumbled. "Now, what do you need help with?"

All signs of joviality left Goku's face in an instant. "Let's go for a walk," he softly said, standing back up. "I think this is one of those walk and talk kinds of moments."

Nervously, Krillen got to his feet and swallowed. "Um, yeah, sure," he agreed. The two walked in silence for several minutes until they reached the door to the roof access. "Hey, Goku?" he asked, following him outside. "I gotta be honest here, you're starting to scare me. Could you tell me what's on your mind so I don't have a nervous breakdown playing worst case scenarios through my mind?"

"Yeah, sure," Goku sighed, closing the door behind them. "Sorry about all this. I just wanted to make sure that no one was going to hear us when we started talking."

"Okay, really scared now," Krillen replied, wringing his coffee cup so hard that three of his fingers poked through the top of it. "Please spit it out, Goku."

Quietly, the tall teenager walked to the edge of the roof and sat down. "I don't even know where to begin," he softly confessed. "This all got so crazy so fast that I don't even know what to do."

"I know," his friend agreed. "I still have a hard time believing that any of this is happening. I kind of expect to jolt awake any minute now to find us back in the apartment and for everything to be back to normal."

"No, that's not what I'm talking about," Goku pushed on. "I mean this whole adoption thing. Chi-Chi going into labor was stressful enough, you know? God, I remember how freaked out I felt when Vegeta read that note…I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life. And when we got here and she was so sick that she could barely stay awake, I got even more scared. And then when he was born…oh, God, Krillen, it just broke me."

"And almost got Vegeta's jaw, too," the shorter one cracked, remembering the bruise on his oldest friends cheek. Catching the dirty glare Goku was giving him, Krillen shied away and quickly muttered an apology and let his best friend go on.

Shaking it off, Goku went on. "I was scared, Krillen. I still am. But I thought that the doctors would get him nice and strong, and then we could take him home and take care of him. You know, all of us. As a family. I mean, with all of us working together, I know we could totally take care of him."

Slowly, Krillen began to piece together where the conversation was going. "Goku, I…"

"And they didn't even ask me!" Goku suddenly snapped. "They didn't take ten damn seconds to ask me if it was okay or how I felt! Vegeta just decided on his own, like he always does! He never thinks of anyone else!"

"That's not fair, and you know it, Goku," Krillen sharply interrupted. He had not meant to be so harsh with his friend, but when fighting fatigue and exhaustion, tempers naturally shortened significantly. "You know damn well that we didn't have time."

"Bullshit!" Goku snapped back. "How long would it have taken to tell me? How long would it have taken _any_ of you to tell me? You know, it's not like _you_ let me know either!"

"I didn't know what the plan was!" his tiny friend shot back. "I would have told you if I'd known, but I didn't know so I didn't tell you! I don't even think _Vegeta_ knew if it was going to be possible, which is probably why he didn't tell me or Bulma about it."

Slamming his fist down on the concrete, Goku hollered out, "It's not fair! He's my son, and I'm taking him home, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it!"

Krillen's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Oh, really?" the tiny teen countered. "No one can stop you? Not, say, the government? Not child welfare? They can't take your son away from you? Wow, I had no idea you magically won the lottery and had a way to take care of an extremely prematurely born baby!"

Neither one of them was fully aware of what happened until it was over. Krillen's head rolled to the side as he tried to regain focus, unable to really work his way through the throbbing. There was a ringing sensation in his ears, and it was hard for him to focus his eyes. He was completely stunned.

Beside him, Goku sat on his knees, a horrified look on his face. He had struck him. Without even being aware of his actions, he had hit one of the best friends he had ever had. There had been a handful of times that he and Vegeta had taken to blows with one another, but _never_ Krillen. Vegeta fought back and almost seemed to enjoy it. But Krillen…Krillen just lay there wide eyed, too shocked to even sit back up.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry," he hoarsely said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

His senses starting to return to him, Krillen blinked and slowly sat up. He was still stunned, but he was clear enough to understand what had happened. Goku had clocked him. Hard. "And you think Vegeta's temper is too short," he grumbled, blinking his eyes again and trying to get his eyes to really come in to focus.

"I'm sorry," Goku repeated again and again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm…"

"Sorry, yeah, I get it," Krillen interrupted, still cradling the site of his wound. "Look, I know you've been through hell these last few days, so I'm going to let this one go. Once." Closing his eyes, he tried to fully gain his bearings again.

Cringing, Goku scoot away slightly, his hands folded in his lap and a look of shame on his face. "It won't happen again," he swore. "I promise, I'll never, ever do it again."

Krillen let out a tired sigh and kept his eyes closed. "Yeah, I know."

Several minutes went by before either of them spoke again. "I don't want to lose my son," Goku quietly said. "I don't want Bulma and Raditz to take him, and I won't let them."

"How are you going to stop them?" Krillen sincerely asked. "They're never going to let you take him back."

"How do you know that?" the new father quickly asked. "Maybe they will let me! And you know what? I'm going to find a way, and you're going to help me, because you're my friend, and that's my kid, and I'm going to take my son home with me and I don't give a damn what anyone else says. So how are you going to help me?"

Slowly lowering his hands, Krillen looked at the surface of the roof. There was no answer coming to his mind. Vegeta's plan had the best chance of success, but Gou's near desperate state to keep his son could not be ignored. "Goku," he softly began, "you remember what he looked like? Remember how small he is, and all those machines he's hooked up to?"

"It doesn't matter," Goku interrupted. "He's going to be small whether he's with me or not, and we'll just get one of those machines and he'll be fine."

Krillen frowned. "They don't give them away for free," he countered.

"Bulma can build one," Goku shot back. "She can build anything!"

"What about medicine?" Krillen pointed out as gently as he could, which was impressive giving how much his head still hurt. "Bulma can't build that, and he's going to need it."

Shaking his head, the taller of the pair fought valiantly to keep from crying. "We'll find a way," he said with a determined voice. "If we just take a little time, we can think of something together. We'll get Vegeta back here, and Bulma, and we'll talk with Chi-Chi, and all together we can come up with a good plan." When Krillen did not immediately respond, Goku put a hand on his shoulder. "You're my best friend, Krillen. I know you'll help me."

Poor Krillen simply stared out at the city below them, the guilt eating away at him as he tried to think of how to help his friend.

/

Vegeta let out a content sigh as the hot spray rained down from the shower spigot. He could not remember the last time he had indulged in one, but he held every intention of enjoying it for as long as he felt able to stay on his feet. It was likely the last one he would have for quite some time. For the first time in forever, Vegeta allowed himself to relax. He might not have been thrilled when Raditz insisted that he get clean before being allowed to go back to sleep, but it no longer seemed like a terrible idea.

The blood, the sweat, and more dirt than he cared to admit washed down the drain, and the teenager savored the sensation of being clean. For over two minutes, he simply stood there, reveling in the sensation of hot water pouring over him. Finally, he brought his fingers up and gingerly touched his fractured nose. He hissed at the contact, but knew that it had to be set and that it would be up to him to do it. It was bad enough that they were somehow going to have to find a miraculous way to pay for Chi-Chi's medical bills, and that little patch job on Goku's head was not going to make that any smaller. They did not need the setting of his nose to raise that any further.

Besides, it was not the first time he had set his own nose. Or a finger, or an arm, or even part of a leg. Pain was not new to him. It had always been there.

Always.

Vegeta bit down on his lower lip and sucked in a sharp, pained breath as he shoved the cartilage back where it belonged. He hated the sensation, but it had to be done and so he did it. It would be swollen and bruised for a while yet, but at least he would be able to breathe slightly better. Tilting his head back, he allowed the water to pour in to his mouth, gargling away as much of the remaining blood that he could.

His moment of relaxation was over. There was too much to be taken care of for him to do anything as frivolous as wallow in an indulgent shower for too long. As he began to clean everything off, he began to wonder what the next step to be. They needed to get a foolproof plan together before that social worker returned, they needed to make it look like the bitch had lived in the apartment for weeks, they had to keep working at the job site, and sooner or later, they were actually going to have to sleep.

Everyone was counting on him to make sure that they were able to pull off their plan, and the weight of that was starting to crush him. Most of their schemes were of his own design, and being the control freak that he was, maintaining that mantle was usually not a problem. But there were so many more factors that had to be considered, and the stakes were infinitely higher. One mistake could easily cost Goku and Chi-Chi the right to get their child back. If they lost the child to the system, getting him back would be near impossible. They had to work everything perfectly, and being so far away from where the rest of the group was did not help the teenager calm down.

Once again, he closed his eyes and tried to relax. Perhaps just a little bit of peace would let his mind clear enough to keep everything under control. Letting the tension drain away once more, Vegeta let out an extremely content sigh.

"Feels good doesn't it?"

Vegeta jumped at the voice of the intruder, and in the slick tub, his feet lost their traction and he fell to the tub floor. "What the hell are you doing in here?" he roared, scrambling to get his feet underneath his body.

From the bathroom counter, Bulma laughed. "Raditz went to his storage locker to see if he could find something that fit you," she explained with a giggle. "After all, we can't have you showing back up at the hospital coated in blood."

"Where are my clothes?" the soaked teen demanded.

"Being washed," the blue haired beauty filled in. "Raditz said that if he got it taken care of right away, he could probably get most of the blood out."

Growling from behind the curtain, Vegeta growled once more, "What the hell are you doing in here?"

Stretching her leg out in front of her, Bulma rolled her ankle and smiled. "Payback's a bitch," she casually said. "After all, you scared the crap out of me and got an eyeful when I took my shower, and now we're even. And, in case you're wondering, there are some nice opaque towels out here that can cover you up better than that nice clear shower curtain." She slid off the counter and walked to the door, shooting the boy a wink. "Oh, and by the way…not bad."


	19. Chapter 19

Goku looked down at Vegeta and tried to hide his mild cringe. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," the older teenager growled.

The taller boy opened his mouth to press it further, but a nudge from his brother encouraged him to keep his mouth shut. However, that was not lowering his level of concern for his friend. As dead set as he had been at demanding that Vegeta find a solution to his problem as quickly as humanly possible, one look at him had made such things temporarily leave his mind. The short boy looked like hell, and probably felt worse. Though Vegeta had reset the break in his nose, it was still horrifically bruised and swollen. And the bruising had spread across his face and under his eyes, darkening his cheekbones.

That bruising only served to intensify the dark circles that had taken up permanent residence under his eyes. None of them were too entirely sure when, exactly, the teenager had slept last. They did know, however, that it had been far too long. Vegeta was on his feet, but Goku found himself seriously questioning just how long it would last.

Raditz, meanwhile, was trying his damnedest to not even look at the shorter teenager. Any time he did, he felt the urge to tell him to go the hell home and get some rest. However, reason was not working on the boy, and bringing it to blows was not going to help. Besides, from what he had been told, they needed to have three sets of hands for the job they were meant to do. He was using his day off from the garage to lend a hand, and Goku needed to get out of the hospital before something drastic happened, but that still meant that they needed another body. Bulma was busy redecorating the apartment slightly, trying to make it look as though she had been there for a few weeks. That left Krillen and Vegeta, both of whom were running near empty, and between the two of them, Vegeta was more likely to make it through the day.

"So what are the specifics of the job?" the eldest member of the group asked. "None of you were heavy on the details."

"The old man points, we do," Vegeta sharply answered. "That's pretty much the gist of it."

Goku nodded along. "Yeah, it's mostly grunt work. You know, patching the roof, planting the garden, forming that pathway thing, that stuff."

Raditz sighed through his nose and kept his eyes on the road, waiting for the truck the others had told him about. He was not particularly happy about any aspect of what had happened to his life over the past few days. The only thing that he found uplifting was the slamming hot eighteen year-old that had just become his roommate. She was gorgeous, she was smart, and _damn_ could that girl kiss. They had made sure to 'practice' plenty the night before, and as soon as he got back for the day, he was going to insist on another training session.

When the old man finally pulled up, he did not even bother to hide his surprised and concerned expression. "Just to satiate my curiosity," he asked, "is there going to be a day where I get to see the same faces as I did the day before?"

"Someday," Goku softly chuckled. He was a far cry from his usual cheerful self, but getting out in the sunlight and fresher air was helping him perk up a little bit. "Sir, this is my big brother, Raditz," he introduced.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Raditz said, extending his hand for a shake.

The old man chuckled. "Likewise, son." None too subtly, he shifted his look down to Vegeta. "You got a story about what happened to your face?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "The midget tried to jump the staircase, messed up, and rammed his cranium against my nose. If you want, I'll haul him out tomorrow and you can see the matching mark on the side of his head."

Though the old man did not notice, Goku looked away with shame. It was going to be a long time before he would even come close to forgiving himself for striking his friend, and even though Krillen had claimed to have forgiven him, it was clear that it was not complete.

"That so?" the man finally said, warily eyeing the wounded boy. He was not sure whether or not he believed it, but he would not push it too hard. The boys had been doing a phenomenal job so far, and that one with the broken nose was the only one who had been there the entire time. The story did not seem plausible, but with no direct evidence to the contrary, he would take it on faith. "Well, no sense in wasting daylight. Hop on in, boys."

/

Chi-Chi placed her book in her lap and looked out the window. Her fever was gone, but her body still felt far beyond drained. From what the doctors had been telling her, it could be weeks before she truly regained her strength. And even when her body began to recover, she was starting to feel as though her heart never would.

Her child, her little baby boy, was fighting for his life down the hallway, and she was not even allowed in the same room as him. Hospital rules stated that anyone who planned to enter the NICU had to be completely free of any signs of disease, and the new mother was still on the antibiotics. It did make sense to her as she thought about it. After all, it was a room full of children who were struggling to stay alive. Exposing them to anything at all could easily become disastrous. However, that did not make her personal pain any easier to deal with.

Her son was already a few days old, and she had still never had the chance to hold him in her arms. Never once had she cradled him against her chest, or had the opportunity to nurse him. His eyes had never opened to her, his tiny fist had never curled around her fingers, no gentle coos had been sent between mother and son. And it could take a long time before she got a chance to engage in any of those activities.

And even if she did get the chance in the next few days, it would probably be the only chance she got.

The sound of a snore interrupted her thoughts, and the dark haired girl found herself looking down at Krillen. The tiny teenager had three chairs pulled together and was dead to the world asleep on them, with one arm draped over his eyes and another drooping off to the side. When the 'assignments' had been given for the day, and Krillen had been given orders to rest, he had immediately formed his temporary bed and drifted off.

Chi-Chi frowned as she looked on at the boy. There was an ever darkening bruise on his face, and Chi-Chi was yet to hear from anyone where the hell it had come from. For that matter, no one had said boo about how Vegeta's face had magically gotten smashed in. There were things going on around her that no one was filling her in on, and it was starting to get damn frustrating. There were plans being made with her just sitting on the sideline, unable to do anything but pray and worry. If no one let her in on the plans soon, she was going to have to raise hell with them.

With a tired sigh, the new mother glanced over to the bedside table. A small smile appeared on her face as she reached out and, for the first time in years, picked up a phone to make a call. Raditz had left his phone number and instructions for Bulma to screen in case there needed to be communication. All she had to do was let the machine pick up and start calling out for the new girl.

As she heard the telltale beep of the answering machine, she could not help the small smile that began to from on her face. It was only a mild comfort in her topsy-turvy life, and barely took the edge off the sting of her emotional pain, but a gabfest with another girl would give her a sorely needed boost.

"Bulma, it's me, pick up!" she called in to the phone. There was something oddly familiar about the action, one she had not done since she was fifteen, and it actually made her feel a little giddy. She had become an adult so quickly after leaving home that a part of her had forgotten the simple joys of being a teenaged girl.

Only a few seconds passed by before the familiar click of a phone being picked up sounded in the brunette's ear. "Chich?" Bulma quickly asked. "Is everything okay?"

The bitterness of her situation began to ebb its way back into her soul. "Is it ever?" she sneered.

"Oh, God, what's wrong?" Bulma asked, immediately panicking. "Are you getting sick again? Is it the baby? Oh, Chich, honey, just give me ten minutes and I can be right down there. No, I'll make it in seven!"

Chi-Chi blinked a few times, her still exhausted mind working through what had just happened. "What?" she softly responded. "Oh, no, it's nothing like that," she informed her friend. "Sorry. Tired. Cranky. Nothing new happening here."

The sigh of relief was long and throaty. "Honey," Bulma gushed into the phone, "I love you to death, but if you could not scare me like that again, it would make my life a hell of a lot easier."

"Sorry," Chi-Chi replied with a little chuckle. "No, nothing's wrong. I'm just sick and tired of being miserable and alone."

"I thought Krillen was there," Bulma mentioned.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Bulma, do you hear that noise that sounds like a lawnmower refusing to start?"

"Yeah?"

"That's him."

On the other end, Bulma blinked a few times, truly listening to the sound. Five seconds passed with absolute silence on her side, followed by a raucous roar of laughter. "Oh my God," Bulma wheezed, "that's _Krillen_? I would have thought that was a piece of heavy machinery that needed a new choker!" Pausing slightly due to a snort, she went on with, "I don't think I've ever heard him make that noise before!"

Giggling, Chi-Chi nodded. "I know! I've never heard it either!"

"Are you _sure_ that's him?" the former heiress teased. "It's not, like, a lung machine in the next room? That is not a sound that should come from a member of the human race!"

Chi-Chi laughed so hard she ended up cringing slightly. "Stop, you're killing me!" she wheezed. Her free hand ran down to her extremely sore abdomen as she tried to reign in her laughter. "Oh, ow, that hurt, but it was totally worth it!"

For almost an hour, the two girls managed to put the worst of their thoughts behind them. They talked, they laughed, and they shared stories with one another. Not once did they mention their troubles and their worries. For the first time in a long while, they simply allowed themselves to be two teenaged girls.

It was a release they had both sorely needed.

/

Raditz wiped the dirt and sweat from his forehead as he put down another heavy load. "There we go," he panted. "That's the last one."

"Thanks," Goku responded, breathing equally hard. Quickly sparing the area a glance, a happy look came upon his face. "Wow, I think this is the most we've ever gotten done in one day here!"

"That's because I kick ass," Raditz replied with a cocky smile. "You should remember a lot of that from when we were kids."

The teenager stuck his tongue out at his older brother. "Jackass."

"You flatter me."

With a shake of his head, Goku leaned against the shovel he had been using. "Hey about this whole adoption thing…"

Raditz looked down at his brother and raised an eyebrow. "What about it?"

"I'm not going to go through with it."

Eyes narrowing dangerously, Raditz took a step closer to his brother. "It's not like you have a hell of a lot of choice in the matter," he hissed. "Either I take him and let you visit or some stranger gets him and you lose him forever. Do you really want that to happen?"

"It won't happen like that," the eighteen year old defended. "It wouldn't be fair."

"Oh?" Raditz challenged. "Well here's a news flash for you, little brother. Life's not fair. Deal with it. It's not fair that you and Chi-Chi had to choose between each other and a roof over your head. It's not fair that Mom and Dad give more of a damn about what the neighbors think than they do about how we're doing. It's not fair that Bulma lost her home and security because her parents screwed up. It's not fair that Vegeta's brother died…"

Goku stood up straight at the mention of that. "You know about Tarble?" he whispered.

Raditz shook his head, his ponytail clinging to the back of his neck with sweat. "Only that he lived and that he died," he admitted. "I don't have anything more than that."

The brothers stood in total silence for what felt like an eternity before Goku finally sighed. "He's _my_ son," he softly told his brother. "I just don't want my kid's first words to be 'Uncle Raditz'."

The larger brother rolled his eyes. "Listen, genius, if the first words out of that kid's mouth are 'Uncle Raditz', then you've got one seriously weird kid. What kid skips over 'baba' and goes straight for that many syllables?"

"You know what I mean!" Goku defended with a huff.

"Well duh, of course I do," his brother shot back. "It's just fun to torture you. It's in the older brother's contract. Union rules."

Goku's face softened slightly. "You do take that seriously, don't you?" he gently replied. "Look, I know that you and 'Geta are trying to do something great for us, but I don't want to give up my son. He's my _son_, Raditz. I can't lose him."

"You're not losing him," Raditz pointed out. "Look, he's going to live with me and Bulma in the apartment, but you're still going to get to see him, and once you get on your feet, I hand him back off to you and get to go back to being Grumpy Uncle Raditz."

"Oh, you wanted to be the grumpy uncle?" Goku teased. "I think that title was already claimed by Vegeta."

The taller man snorted. "Hey, I share genetic material with the kid. I'm pulling rank."

Goku smiled up at his brother. "You're going to let me see him, right?"

"I'll make sure of it," Raditz promised.

"And…and you'll take good care of him, won't you?"

"The best." Well out of his emotional comfort range, Raditz cleared his throat. "So, listen, since I'm going to be taking care of the boy, is there, like, a _name_ you were thinking of giving him? Somehow, I think Chi-Chi's going to kill me if I just call him the little bastard."

As the two brothers chuckled over various horrible nicknames the poor child could end up with, they missed the sound of the back door sliding shut. "So that's what it was," the old man muttered to himself. "Interesting…"


	20. Chapter 20

Bulma frowned as she looked down at the boy on the couch. "What the hell happened to him?" she softly asked.

Beside her, Raditz shook his head and sighed. "Blacked out on us right after we got dropped off," he grimly said. "He was fading fast at the end of the day, but damn if he didn't manage to stay conscious until that truck was out of sight. Right after that happened, he just went limp." He turned slightly and offered his kid brother a half smile. "Thanks for helping me get him in here, by the way."

"Yeah, no problem," Goku answered, though he clearly was not listening intently. There was no denying that he was worried. Vegeta needed help, _real_ help, but there was no way the eighteen year old could think of to get it without a disaster. They had no money for an actual doctor, and were already in more trouble than they had ever been with hospital bills. The free clinic could only offer basic assistance, and it usually did not end up being completely free. But what would happen to him if they did not get him true assistance?

"Well, let him sleep there," Bulma sighed. "God knows he hasn't done that in way too long. And do you have any belts, Raditz?"

The young man raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Why?"

"I want to strap him down," she casually said.

Goku's eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. "Are you kidding me?" he gawked. "What do you need to tie him down for?"

"To keep him down," Bulma firmly answered. "Vegeta has pushed himself too far, and I think we all know that he's just going to keep doing it to himself until an outside force stops him. He needs rest and he needs food, and he's not getting up until he gets ample amounts of both of those things. Watching him drop dead from his own dumbass choices isn't going to help us."

The two Son brothers frowned at the former heiress. "He's not going to take that well," Raditz counseled.

But Bulma's resolve did not waver a bit. "Tough luck for him," she sharply retorted. "He's the one who keeps saying that the good of the group comes before the wants of the individual. It's high time he lives by that code himself."

"He has been putting the group first," Goku argued. "That's what got him here."

"No," Bulma fought back, "he got here because of his desire to always remain in control of the situation he's in. Look, I'm not denying that he's done a hell of a lot for all of us. He's the reason any of us have managed to make it this far. But if he does not learn to trust us and let us be in control for a short while, it's going to kill him, and then we're just screwed. So until he heals a bit, he's staying on that couch."

While neither of the brothers were thrilled with the idea, they both understand that the girl had a solid argument. "I'll go grab you what I've got," Raditz finally spoke, heading out of the room.

Goku shook his head. "You know he's going to go ballistic when he comes to," he told his friend.

Again, Bulma did not falter. "He will just have to deal with it. I don't trust him to stay down on his own, and he's no good to us if he keeps this up."

"Wow," Goku replied, his voice hovering between awe and nervousness, "you're a real hard ass when you want to be."

"We do what we have to," she strictly told her friend. "Now you go get something to eat before you get back to that hospital. You need to be in good condition for Chi-Chi."

Goku smiled at the former heiress. "Yes, Mommy," he teased. "Do I need to eat my vegetables and wash behind my ears too?"

"Yes you do, young man," Bulma teased back, a smile finally appearing. "And no sugar before dinner for you, mister. I don't want you spoiling your dinner!"

The taller teenager threw his head back and laughed. "You know, you've really got this mommy routine down." His laughter slowed, and a considerate look replaced it. "I may not be happy with not being able to take my son home with me," he seriously told her, "but if someone had to take care of him, I'm glad it's you and my brother. I know you'll take care of him."

Bulma smiled softly in return. "I promise," she sincerely told him, "that I will do anything and everything for that boy. He will be happy, and he will be healthy, and he will know each and every day that his mom and dad love him very, very much."

"Thank you," Goku said, giving the girl a hug.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Raditz called out, walking back in to the room. "Get your hands off of my fiancé!"

Another chuckle came from the eighteen year old boy. "Aww, and here I wanted to seduce her away from you!"

With a mock growl, the taller young man got between the pair. "Over my cold dead body!"

Laughing, Bulma snatched the belts out of Raditz' hands. "Ooh, boys!" she laughed. "All this over little ol' me?"

"What can I say?" Raditz replied with a smirk. "You're one fine piece of ass!"

The girl rolled her eyes. "I feel so pretty…" As the boys continued to harass her, she used the belts and a few other items from around the room to form restraints around Vegeta's wrists and shins. "In case any of you were wondering," she grunted, pulling the last part taught, "I actually do feel bad about this."

"We know," Goku softly told her. "You're a good person."

"Too bad he won't see it that way," she huffed.

"No," Goku agreed, "but we all have to do things that we don't want to right now, including you and him."

Getting uncomfortable, Raditz cleared his throat. "Anyway," he said, guiding the subject away, "I think all three of us could use some food. Kid, you set the table. I'll take care of the rest."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Bulma asked.

The brothers exchanged a look. "You can steer clear of the kitchen," Raditz finally told her. When she shot him a furious glare, he held up his hands defensively and chuckled. "What can I say? Your reputation precedes you."

Bulma shifted her glare to the younger of the brothers. "You told him I can't cook?" she hissed, slapping him on the shoulder.

"Ow!" Goku cried, cradling his arm in spite of the fact that it did not particularly hurt. "Hey, it wasn't me!"

"No," Raditz agreed, "it was your interview in Popular Mechanics. You said it yourself, the only thing you have trouble operating are basic kitchen appliances, and I, for one, do not feel like having my apartment set ablaze."

The former heiress scowled and crossed her arms. "One lousy article and my life is over," she huffed.

"Yes it is," her fiancé calmly answered. "Besides, we need someone to keep an eye on him on the outside chance that he wakes up soon."

Bulma looked down at Vegeta's still limp form. "I hold my sincerest doubts that he'll wake up in the next few hours," she somberly told the brothers. "He's gone way beyond what even I would have thought possible for a human. Honestly, I'm surprised this didn't happen a long while ago. He's been going full throttle since this damn thing began. Even my best machines can't maintain that output for this long." Shaking her head, she tried to get her mind on happier things. "So Goku, I hear you're thinking about baby names…"

/

Krillen sat still in his chair, shocked and frozen. There were no words, no actions that could save him, and no way to communicate with the rest of the group. It was all over, and all he could do was stare in horror.

Beside him, in her bed, Chi-Chi had pulled the blankets up to her chin and was fighting to keep from crying. She had arrived at the same conclusion Krillen had. Their hope was gone. They were going to take her baby boy away from her and she was never going to get to see him again. It was over.

In front of them, the old man removed his hat. "I hope I'm not intruding," he softly said. Neither teenager spoke or moved, both clearly too stricken to respond. So, with calm, level steps, then man approached Chi-Chi and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I hear that congratulations are in order, young lady."

Chi-Chi flinched instinctively at the touch and wrapped the blanket around that shoulder. Still, no words were able to come from her. Krillen, though, had finally pulled enough of his wits about him to utter a few words. "What are you doing here?"

The old man smiled at the diminutive teenager. "I overheard your friend speaking to his brother," he calmly replied. "I wanted to come and offer my sincerest congratulations." He turned slightly and gave Chi-Chi a playful smile. "Also, young lady, I wanted to warn you of some of the names the boys had come up with for your son."

"How did you find me?" the girl demanded, her knuckles white around the blanket.

The old man laughed as he shook his head. "Oh, I'm afraid I must admit to a little trickery on my part," he confessed. "I told the nurses that I was the boys' grandfather and that I wanted to see how all of you were faring."

Krillen scrunched his face slightly as he leaned in to Chi-Chi and said, "I told them that the old man card can get you almost anything."

Having heard the comment, the old man laughed. "True," he cheerfully agreed. "The only thing that words better than old man is old lady, but everyone knows that." Glancing around the room, he asked, "Where are the others?"

"They're not back yet," Chi-Chi answered, though she regretted the words as they left her mouth.

"They're not?" the old man said with a frown. "That's odd, I dropped them off over an hour ago. They should have been able to walk here by now."

Krillen shot Chi-Chi a glare, but since she looked remorseful and nothing could take the words back, he turned his focus back to the old man. "What are going to do to us?" he quietly demanded.

The old man frowned again. "I'm not here to hurt you in any way, if that's what you're implying," he told the boy. "I overheard that you were in rough straights, and I wanted to know how I could help. You're all such remarkable young people that it would be a shame if anything happened to you."

Both Chi-Chi and Krillen warily eyed the old man. He seemed sincere enough, but years of hardship had taught them to doubt any offer, particularly one so enticing. There was always an ulterior motive. Nothing was ever free, and the cost was usually higher than anyone would let them know. "We're okay," he informed the man.

But the old man did not seem to buy it. "Listen, kids," he sighed, taking a seat in one of the hard plastic chairs, "I may not know everything about you, but I've figured out enough to know that you're not okay. Now I told you I wasn't here to cause trouble, and I meant it, but you're going to have to level with me."

The minds were racing furiously in both teenagers. They needed an out, and they needed one fast. Krillen's mind was coming up blank, but in a flash, Chi-Chi got an idea. Deliberately, she increased her breathing to short, harsh intervals and made her body shake. Tears that she had been holding back were suddenly given full permission to fly freely down her cheeks, and she rolled her head to the side and moaned loudly.

Catching on, Krillen shot to his feet and grabbed the old man by the arm, guiding him to the door. "I know you just want to help," he quickly said, "but she's very tired and stressed out and I need to help her calm down. We can talk later."

The old man gave the girl a worried look, but complied with the request. "I'll be out here when you kids are ready to talk." It was meant just as it was said, as a none too subtle reminder that they still owed him an explanation.

Krillen nodded but did manage to get the man out before closing the door tightly behind him. Quick as he could, he closed the blinds, affording them what privacy was available. Backing away toward the bed, the short boy offered the girl a relieved smile. "Nice play," he praised.

Calming herself down, Chi-Chi sniffed as she wiped away her tears. "Thanks," she gasped out. With one last dab at her eyes, she grabbed the phone and dialed in Raditz' number. "Here," she told Krillen, handing off the receiver.

"Thanks."

The phone rang three times before Bulma picked it up. "Hello?"

"Bulma, it's me," Krillen quickly said. "We've got a problem. Put Vegeta on."

The former heiress was quiet for a second before answering, "He's out cold, Krillen. What's the problem?"

"What the hell do you mean he's out cold?" he cried into the phone.

Bulma frowned. "What does it sound like?" she huffed back, putting the phone on speaker mode so the boys could hear. "The guy's only human and he pushed himself too far. He's going to be down for at least a few hours. Now what the hell is the problem?"

Sweat prickled its way down the back of Krillen's neck. Vegeta had never been out of the equation before. He was the one constant they always had. He was the schemer, the planner, the con artist. How were they going to get by without him? "Bulma, are you sure there's no way he can get up right now? Like, not even if you shake him really hard or something?"

"Krillen!"

"The old guy found us," he quickly responded. "The guy overheard Raditz and Goku talking about Chi-Chi and the kid, told the nurses here that he was their grandfather, and is sitting outside of the room right now. He knows we're covering our asses. What the hell are we supposed to do?"

The three young adults in the apartment stood in silence, quietly giving each other a pleading look for an answer. A long minute ticked by before Krillen hissed into the receiver, "Guys, I can only stall him for, like, thirty minutes. What the hell am I supposed to do?"

There were no answers coming to any of them, though. No solutions jumping into their minds, making themselves readily accessible to the team. An occasional noise would escape Bulma as tried to formulate a plan, but she was not able to devise anything on the spot. With fear in her eyes, she looked down at the unconscious form on the couch, desperately willing him to wake up and save them.

But he did not so much as flinch. They were completely on their own.


	21. Chapter 21

Two more agonizing minutes passed before there was a clearly audible gasp. Bulma turned around and picked up her bag from the living room floor. "Krillen, can you still hear me?" she called out.

"Yeah…"

"Great." She pulled out her hairbrush and immediately began running through her hair. "You keep yourself and Chi-Chi in the room. Don't let the old guy in. Goku, Raditz and I will be there in just a few minutes. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." Before she allowed any of the boys to answer, she used her free hand to disconnect the line.

Goku stared at the former heiress. "What are you…"

"Later," she commanded, reaching once more into her bag. "Let me grab just one more thing and then we need to fly."

Behind her, Raditz frowned. "Not that I'm here to rain on your parade," he brought up, "but aren't you forgetting about something?"

Bulma pulled the lone tube of lip gloss she had been holding on to out and tucked in in her pocket. "I know, I know, Vegeta's comatose on the couch. But he's not going to wake up for a long time, and if we move right now, I can at least get the two of us back here in an hour. Trust me, there's no way he'll get up before then."

Kneeling down, Goku asked, "Shouldn't we at least untie him first?"

"No time!" the girl shouted. "We need to move, _now_!"

Still not happy with the situation, both Son boys hopped after her out the apartment and down the stairs. They still had no good ideas how to stop the situation, and if she happened to have one, then she was the boss. Even Raditz, long independent and never particularly good at following orders, understood that it was time to keep quiet and fall in line. After all, it was his own family that was at risk.

It only took a few minutes for Raditz to drive them to the hospital, but none of them spoke on the way. They knew that they should have been discussing a plan, any strategy possible to help them, but each one of them was far too tense to manage to begin the conversation.

When they pulled in to the parking lot, Bulma finally opened her mouth. "When we get in there," she firmly commanded, "you let me do the talking. The only time you are allowed to talk is if he asks you a question directly, and if he does that, you do anything you can to keep your answer vague and send him back to me. You boys got that?"

The Son brothers nodded. "You sure you're up for this?" Raditz quietly asked.

"I'm ready to fight and I play to win," the former heiress bit out, her stride getting firmer and firmer with each step toward the hospital entrance. "Goku, you're going to straight into the room to comfort Chi-Chi. Tell her and Krillen that I've got everything under control."

Goku nodded. "I can do that, but what do I do if they ask about Vegeta?"

"Tell them he's resting at the apartment," she quickly answered. "It's not a lie, and getting into a fight about tying him down is not going to help anything."

"Got it," the eighteen year old agreed. Though he was never thrilled with the idea of manipulating the truth, he was willing to do anything and everything to protect his son. Not another word was spoken as they entered the hospital, all of them far too aware of just how many sets of ears were around them. The moment was critical, and there was no room for even the slightest error. With confidence and determination, Bulma made her way up to the maternity ward, the two Son boys close at her heels.

She quickly spotted the old man, and with her chin held firm and level, she approached. "Hello, sir," she confidently greeted, shaking his hand. "It's nice to see you again. I understand that you are here with some questions for my friends, and I would be happy to answer any and all concerns. Now, what seems to be the issue?"

The old man was surprised by the aggressive approach, but he could not help the smile that came. "Yes, I remember you, young lady. Bulma, right?"

"Right."

He chuckled as he let go of the hand shake. "If I didn't know you were still just a kid, I'd take you for a lawyer."

Bulma returned his smile with her own self-confident smirk. She was quivering with fear on the inside, but she managed to keep it totally hidden on the outside. "I assure you, I am not a child. I am a full and legal adult." To prove her point, she reached in to her pocket and pulled out her wallet, producing photo identification. "I have not had the opportunity as of late to change my place of residence yet, but the date of birth does prove me to be of adult age."

"So it does," he agreed, studying it carefully. "Pardon me for asking, but are you _the_ Bulma Briefs? Of the Capsule empire?"

"I was," she firmly told him. "As I am sure you gathered from the news, there has been unpleasantness surrounding my parents and their choices. Since they left, I have been staying with Raditz," she gestured to the young man, "my fiancé."

The man raised an eyebrow. "You sure you're not a little young to be taking a trip down the aisle, young lady?" he sincerely asked.

Bulma shook her head, not wavering for an instant. "He and I have known each other for many years. We began dating over two years ago, and even when it became apparent that I was no longer an heiress poised to inherit the largest fortune on the planet, his love and affection did not waver. We are one hundred percent committed to each other, sir. He has more than proven that he will be a fine and loyal husband."

"Certainly seems that way," he agreed, giving her a smile. "Well, congratulations to you both."

"Thank you, sir."

Nodding again, the old man took a seat on one of the waiting room chairs. "Now, you said you'd be willing to answer some questions for me."

"Of course," the former heiress agreed, taking the seat across from him.

"First and foremost," the man asked, "I would like to know why you young folks have been working so hard to keep all of this such a secret from me."

Bulma nodded. "Yes, I understand your concerns. Goku, Raditz' younger brother, and his girlfriend Chi-Chi were expecting their first child when you first met us. While the boys were with you, Chi-Chi was with me and not feeling well. She began going into premature labor, which was when I brought her here. Due to the limited forms of communication available to all of us, all I could use to inform them was a note as I came here to make sure that mother and child were well. The secrecy had more to do with the fact that it was a large shock to all of us and that we had no time to process it than anything else. We did not want to let you, a comparative stranger, to become involved."

The man considered for a moment. "I suppose that does make some sense," he agreed, "but I still do not believe I understand exactly how your, shall we say, social circle works. I am confused just who goes where with who, and I am trying to make sense of it."

"That is understandable," Bulma responded in a no nonsense tone. "To try to clarify, I live with Raditz, and Goku, Chi-Chi, Krillen, and Vegeta live together."

He nodded again. "I take it that the other four do not live in an apartment like you and your intended do."

"They get by," she defended. "And Raditz and I are there to help as we can. But due to circumstances, yes, they are getting by on limited means. That is why the three boys would try to find work like the kind they do for you. When Chi-Chi went in to labor, we wanted to make sure Goku was available to be there for her. That's why you have been seeing us come in through rotation. It was not necessarily our job, but we are there to help one another."

"Tell me," the man seriously went on, "what the plan is for the child."

But Bulma did not so much as flinch at the question. "Raditz and I are in the process of assuming legal guardianship of the boy," she informed the man. "We are not currently moving to fully adopt, as we hope that Goku and Chi-Chi will be able to be capable of moving in to the position of being able to fully take care of their child. They love that boy dearly. It's why they're willing to let us take care of him until they can handle it."

The man smiled softly at the teenaged girl. "It sounds to me like you young ones have things all figured out pretty well."

"We do our best," Bulma responded.

"If you don't mind," he responded, slowly getting to his feet, "would it be alright if I saw the child?"

For the first time since the conversation started, Bulma felt her confidence truly falter. It was a snap decision that she was not prepared to make. However, as she raced through the scenario in her mind, she could find no harm in him being able to see the child. The man knew who they were and why they were there. If he could find them, it would not be difficult to find the boy. And if she tried to hide him, it would probably make his suspicions worse. "Very well," she finally spoke. "Please, follow me."

/

A low groan escaped Vegeta's throat as he slowly began to regain consciousness. He was vaguely aware of the sounds of the city outside the window, but everything seemed somehow muted. Every part of his body seemed so much heavier than it normally did, particularly his chest. Just breathing seemed difficult at that moment. Of course, his still broken nose was certainly not helping that.

He tried to sit up, but everything felt so heavy that he could not manage it. His head swayed to the side slightly, and he had to fight the urge to give right back in to his exhaustion and fall back asleep. There was work to be done, though, and he knew that he could not afford to rest. Forcing himself to stay awake, he cracked his eyes open.

It was with a slight start that he realized he was in Raditz' dark apartment. "How the hell did I get here?" he muttered. Shaking it off, he tried once again to sit up, only to once again find it impossible. However, unlike his earlier attempt, Vegeta was acutely aware that what was keeping him down was not his own fatigue. His eyes grew wide as he looked down at the restraints, and he was just barely able to keep himself from bellowing with pure rage.

"Son of a bitch!" he hissed, fighting the restraints. "Those damn cowards!" In spite of his exhaustion he thrashed against the belts, desperately trying to break free from them. But no matter how hard he fought, they would not give way. "I'll kill them!" Wilder and wilder he jerked against them, but all he managed to accomplish was severely bruising his wrists, legs, and chest.

"Damn it!" he bit out. The sense of betrayal he felt was almost enough to suffocate him. After everything that he had done, after everything he had sacrificed for those miserable little bastards, and this is how they treat him? Tying him down like a wild animal and abandoning him? How could they?

It took several minutes for him to calm down enough to truly gather his wits about him, but when he did, he eased his way back against the couch. Fighting was clearly getting him nowhere, and he flat out refused to remain tied down like a dog. After getting his adrenaline flowing and his heart rate up, he no longer felt the effects of his exhaustion. However, he knew that state was only temporary. He had been there before, and he knew he only had a few minutes before he ran the risk of blacking out again. Forcing his body to relax, he slowly began wringing one wrist around underneath the leather belt. It burned with every movement, his skin rubbing raw and cracking open as he worked, but he could feel himself making progress.

After several minutes of working away, Vegeta finally managed to free his right wrist, and with it gained the ability to free himself from the rest of the restraints. Keeping his cursing under his breath, he scanned the dark apartment and contemplated his next move. He could only guess that the others were all at the hospital, meaning something had probably gone wrong while he had been out. It was tempting to get over there as quickly as he could to assess the situation. However, one glance down at his well battered body kept him in his place. His face was still swollen from breaking his nose, he knew perfectly well that his color was off, and he had managed to wear a fairly impressive hole in his right wrist in his attempt to free himself. If he walked in to the hospital looking like that, it would only make things worse.

He contemplated returning to his own place to rest and regroup, but that would leave him out of communication range with the others. If something had gone wrong, as he suspected, then staying near Raditz' phone was a must. As much as he hated the idea, he resigned himself to waiting for the others right where he was.

Angrily, he made his way to the kitchen and began to make coffee. If he was going to be up for anything, he was definitely going to need more energy. As he waited for the drink to brew, he noticed the state the kitchen was in. Raditz was by no means a neat freak, but he was tidy enough and by no means a slob. There was no way he would have left a half gallon of milk sitting out on the stove unless he had been in a serious hurry. The unused pots and pans, maybe. But the milk? They must have left fast.

There were only a few things that could have made them leave like that. Either someone found out that their entire act was just that, an act, or something had happened with the boy. And from Vegeta's viewpoint, it was far more likely that the unbelievably premature child would have a complication than having anyone figure out what they were up to. And if everyone was gone, it had to be very, very bad. It was not lost on him that there was a very real chance that the boy might have passed away.

And if that was the case, he honestly did not know if the group could fully recover. He may have been a schemer, but Goku's strength and boy-next-door charm carried them farther than he cared to admit. And Chi-Chi was the only person on the planet that could take the meager offerings of food and make them taste edible. If the two of them fell apart, just surviving was going to be downright impossible.

His temper was slightly cooler than it had been, but Vegeta had hardly forgotten the anger at being tied down. He would ensure that everything possible was alright. After that, there was going to be hell to pay.


	22. Chapter 22

"Oh, my," the old man whispered, looking in to the small room.

Beside him, Bulma offered a small nod. "He was born extremely prematurely," she informed him. "The doctors have said that it's nothing shy of a miracle that he's even alive right now. He's been holding stable the past few days, but he's not out of the woods yet."

"I've never seen a child so small," the man softly spoke. "I have seen young ones born early before, but never anything like this." Raising a white eyebrow at the girl, he asked, "Do you know what caused this?"

Bulma shook her head. "They're best guess is that it was the fever, but they can't confirm it."

"Fever?"

The former heiress let out a long, tired sigh before she answered. "When I brought Chi-Chi in, she had a spiking fever. It had been more mild earlier in the day, but around the same time I realized that she was in premature labor, her temperature was skyrocketing. They managed to get the fever under some control and stall labor for a little while, but not long. We did what we could. Now it's a matter of waiting and hoping."

The elderly gentleman nodded, quietly studying the young child. The boy truly was smaller than any babe he had ever seen before, and it was almost a little frightening to see the tubes that were leading to and from the newborn. "I don't mean to sound critical," he finally said to the girl, "but how will you manage caring for one so small and frail?"

"I plan to stay at home with him," Bulma quickly answered. She had been trying to figure out where his questions were likely to go, and her mind was working furiously to keep one step ahead of him. "And it will be quite a while before we'll be able to take him home, anyway. You're right, he is frail. And just as any child born in this condition would be, he will probably be spending a substantial amount of time in that room before we even get to hold him, let alone take him home. But I will be available constantly during the day, and I plan to help supplement the family income with consulting positions that can be done on my own schedule at home. I may be young, but I am confident that I will be able to find someone who will be able to use my services. Besides, I can make more than enough money for our family while charging less than a quarter of what my competitors would."

Another minute of silence passed between the two of them before Bulma spoke again. "If you don't mind, sir, I think it would be best for my friends and myself if we began to wind down for the evening. The boys are all quite tired, and Chi-Chi certainly needs her rest. Don't worry, we'll make sure you have at least three good sets of hands ready to work for you tomorrow." _That, and I want to make sure I get home before Vegeta wakes up_, she reminded herself. _If he wakes up alone and tied down, he's going to kill me._

"No, you won't."

Bulma visibly flinched at the statement, but regained her composure quickly. "I can assure you, sir, that we are not trying to undermine you or scheme you out of anything. We are simply trying to get by, and we are willing to do honest work for it. If you would just give us another chance…"

"No, no, that's not what I meant," the old man chuckled. "I meant that you've all been working so hard, and you all seem so tired, that I want to give you a day off. Don't worry, there is still plenty of work to be done, and I wouldn't want to lose the best workers I've ever met in my life. Please, consider it a holiday. Paid leave."

To say Bulma was shocked was an understatement. Since getting the phone call from Krillen, she had been preparing herself with every defense possible to make sure they did not lose the baby. She had been ready for a fight, and would not have stood down for anything. But a generous offer was something that she had never even dreamed of, and her mind went blank as a slate.

Beside her, the man chuckled. "I will simply interpret that look on your face as a 'thank you'."

"What?" the former heiress replied, startling back into action. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!"

"However," the gentleman went on, "there is one condition I have for this holiday."

There it was. The threat was rearing its ugly head again. Bulma stood up as straight as she could and squared her shoulders, all traces of humor gone from her face. She would not let her friends down. "What is it?" she asked with a voice far more level than her actual nerves.

"I insist," the man strictly said, "that you allow me to buy you, those boys, and the mother a gift in celebration of the birth."

Bulma once again froze as her mind frantically threw itself into reverse. She made a mental note that if her head got played with any more that day, she was going to end up stripping its gears. The only sound she managed to make in response was a feeble, "Eh?"

Amused, the old man placed his hat on his head and chuckled. "Well, you think about what you and the other young lady would like, and if I see you tomorrow, I assure you, it won't be for work." That said, he simply turned and walked away, still entertained by the flabbergasted look on the young woman's face.

/

Raditz and Krillen had barely managed to finish explaining and discussing what they knew so far when Bulma gently entered the room. "Hey," Raditz softly greeted. "What happened?"

Still slightly stunned, all Bulma could say was, "We're getting presents for the holiday."

Sitting in one of the hard, plastic chairs, Krillen scratched his head. "Okay, I know that I'm really tired, so could someone explain to me how, exactly, that sentence made any sense at all?"

"He's giving us the day off tomorrow," Bulma tried explaining, still attempting to wrap her mind around it herself. "He told me to call it a holiday, that we'd get 'paid leave' for a day so we could rest. And he wants to buy us presents."

An almost eerie silence filled the room as the three boys and Chi-Chi found themselves in the same stunned state Bulma was working through. It was an amazingly generous offer, one that none of them had ever seen before. But none of them were so naïve as to think that they would ever get something for nothing. In all of their experiences, even Raditz', there was always a greater agenda behind such an offer, whether it was visible or not.

None of them really talked about the offer at that moment. They all knew that if something seemed too good to be true, it was. But they were worn and hungry and needed rest before they could take any action at all. There did not seem to be any immediate threat, and they silently agreed to put off any decisions or plans until at least the next day. Goku decided to stay behind and spend the night with Chi-Chi, and Krillen chose to return with Bulma and Raditz to the furnished apartment. Raditz slipped his brother a few dollars, instructing him to get halfway decent food with it before they parted ways.

On the car ride home, Bulma fidgeted nervously in her seat. "How long were we there?" she finally asked.

Sparing the dashboard a glance, Raditz answered, "About an hour and a half."

"An hour and a half," the former heiress repeated, more so to herself than anyone else. "Okay, okay, he's probably not awake yet."

"Who's probably not awake yet?" Krillen curiously popped in from the back seat.

"Vegeta," Raditz bluntly answered. "He passed out, he wasn't in great shape, and she strapped him down to make sure he got rest."

Krillen's eyes grew enormous, and he stared, horrified, at Bulma. "You did _what_?"

"Look, the guy is going to drop dead soon if he keeps pushing himself," she aggressively defended. "We can't afford to lose him, and I didn't trust him to stay down on his own. Besides, he should still be unconscious anyway. I just wanted to keep him down long enough to talk to him about what he needs to do for the good of the group in order for us all to survive. I wasn't planning on chaining him to the couch forever."

"You _chained_ him?"

Bulma sent her fellow passenger a sharp look. "I used belts, you moron. You think I bothered bringing chains with me to an apartment?"

Krillen shrugged one shoulder, relaxing, but just barely. "Well, with you I'm never sure…"

"Shut up," she griped, slouching. No one spoke for the remainder of the short ride to the apartment, nor did they utter a word as they began their ascent toward the unit. There was a lot on their minds, and a lot that needed consideration. Raditz placed the key in the hole, turned, and allowed the others to enter the apartment.

All three of them froze when they saw the couch bare. The lights were not on in the living room, but there was more than ample light streaming in from the city night to see that Vegeta had not only woken up, but gotten out of the hold as well.

"Crap," Krillen quietly groaned. "Well, I guess I'll go back to our place and see just how murderous he is."

"Oh, there's no need to go anywhere to see that," a voice darkly growled from behind them.

Bulma let out a squeak of fear, and instinctively she hid behind Raditz' large body. All of his rage would be pointed squarely at her, and all of the arguments she had held onto before that moment suddenly seemed inconsequential. She had tied him down, even when the others cautioned her against it. She had left him that way, even when the others warned her that she should not. And any ground she may have held for having him down in the first place had dissipated when he had woken up, alone, in the dark, and tied down.

After an extremely tense few seconds passed, Vegeta finally snapped, "Well? How bad is it?"

"Somewhat," Raditz coolly answered. He was not nearly so wary of Vegeta's temper as the others. He was, however, aware of how miserable the boy could make life for everyone around him when upset. "Old guy found them. Doesn't seem to be trying to do us any ill will. Bulma kept him at bay. We'll keep an eye on it."

"And the boy?" he demanded.

Raditz did not falter for a moment. "Holding stable."

"Hn."

Sniffing the air, Bulma peeked around Raditz' large frame. "Is that real coffee I smell?" she practically begged.

In an instant, Vegeta was right next to her. "May I have a word with you?" he growled.

Bulma squeaked and ducked once more behind Raditz, and when Vegeta tried to follow, the large twenty year old shoved him. "You can discuss anything you want with her," he darkly warned, "as long as you do it here, in front of us. There's nothing you need to tell her that doesn't involve the rest of us, and there isn't a chance in hell that I'm letting you talk to her alone when you're like this."

A deep noise emitted from Vegeta's throat. He did not appreciate being spoken to in such a manner, but he was wise enough to know his place. Still too weak and hungry to keep too stable on his own feet, he would hold no chance against the significantly larger young man. And while he hated admitting it, even to himself, he knew that Raditz was the saving grace keeping them afloat at the moment, a position that Vegeta had talked him into. He was in debt to Raditz, and his pride would not let him forget that.

However, that did not mean that he was going to bow down in submission. "If you're so dead set on saving her ass," he bit out, glaring Raditz right in the eye, "then I suggest that you tell your precious little _fiancé_ that tying people down like they're rabid animals is not a conducive action toward gaining or maintaining _trust_."

Raditz glared right back, but for a brief moment, he spared the cowering Bulma a look. "He's right, you know," he told her.

"In my defense," she called out, still gripping Raditz' torso, "I hadn't meant to tie you down and then ditch you. I just wanted to keep you there long enough to talk to you and make you rest for a little bit. I didn't know we were about to get a call from the hospital!"

"That's no excuse!"

"Okay," Krillen intervened, clapping his hands together and trying to break the tension. "I think we've all learned a lesson here. Vegeta learned he's only human and needs a break, Bulma learned that Vegeta is, in fact, human, Raditz learned that Bulma will use him as a meat shield in a heartbeat, and I learned that it's weird to have an argument in a dark apartment when we're all here. I'm going to remedy my part by turning on a light!"

It was clearly an attempt to distract them from more pressing matters, but in an odd way, it worked quite well. As the lights came on, Vegeta huffed before taking a seat in the armchair, refusing to be on the couch again but needing to get off his feet. Bulma, finally assured that the temperamental teen was not going to attack her, snuck into the kitchen to get a nice, full mug of coffee. Raditz rolled his eyes at the juvenile behaviors the others were displaying, but he chose to ignore it for the time being and return to making food for the group. After all, none of them had gotten a chance to eat dinner yet, and they were famished.

As the food was made and each young person helped themselves, Krillen kicked his feet up and sighed. "You know," he pondered, his mouth full of food, "I wonder just what the old guy is going to boy us."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

A choking noise came out of the smallest member of the group as Krillen realized that they had not yet given Vegeta any of the real details of the evening. "Um, well, here's the thing. The old guy told us to take the day off, and he's still going to pay us for it, and he's going to buy us stuff."

"Absolutely not!" Vegeta bellowed. "Do not tell me that you _agreed_ to those terms! Do you even know what the old bastard wants in exchange?"

"He seemed pretty on the level," Krillen defended. "I really don't think he wants anything other than the chance to be nice."

"That's bullshit and you know it. There is no such thing as someone doing stuff 'just to be nice'. There is _always_ a motive, there is _always_ an agenda, there is _always_ a trick! God damn it, I'm unconscious for one hour and you morons forgot _everything_!"

It was as far as he made it into his tirade before a pillow ricocheted of his head. "Would you calm the hell down?" Raditz said. "The guy hasn't even done anything yet, and considering how close he is to all of this, you know as well as I do that you need to play the game. Yeah, he may have some evil plan, but you're not exactly in a position to piss him the hell off. So sit down, eat you damn food, and for once in your life, relax a little. Taking one night off is not going to kill you or anyone else. In fact, _not_ calming down is going to do you a lot of harm, because I'm tired, and if the fastest way to shut you up is to beat the hell out of you, I'll probably do it. Sit down and chill or get the hell out."

The silence that filled the room was extremely uncomfortable for all of them. Vegeta was downright livid, to the point where it seemed no point of reason or logic would calm him down. Raditz was utterly unapologetic for his threat, though. There would be no peacemaking with them that night.

With his temper just barely contained, Vegeta got to his feet and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door hard on his way out.


	23. Chapter 23

Goku ran his fingers through Chi-Chi's hair, slowly letting his hand glide down until ever long strand fell out from his gentle touch. It was something he often did when he was lost in thought, a simple, calming action that helped him be at peace. It was the first time in a while he had taken a moment to calmly reflect, something he had sorely needed to do. His love slept soundly in his arms, her still healing body beyond spent from the stress of the day. Those rare moments, where he got to look upon her relaxed, resting features, were some of his most treasured moments. They allowed him to think of how lucky they were to have one another, no matter how hard other aspects of their lives might be.

It had been a wild few days, the likes of which he had never before experienced. Even when he and Chi-Chi had first been kicked out, when they had no idea how to fend for themselves and went to sleep in alleyways dirty and hungry, they had at least felt some semblance of control over their lives. All they needed was love. Anything else they could either scavenge or live without.

In his quiet reflection, Goku truly took into consideration just what they would need in order for a newborn child, especially one with such high risk for problems, just to have the boy survive. For months in his mind, the teenager had a fantasy image perfectly worked out. It was a glorious thought, one full of joy and laughter. It was a happy image of a perfect little boy that cooed up at them, that really only needed diapers provided for him, for food could come from his mother. A little person who never had any problems at all, for he was content with the protective love of a mother and father who would always, unconditionally, be there for him.

But the control was gone. Their child, born far too early, barely clung to life. The needs of their son were so great that it really would be impossible for them to provide. Their son would need more than diapers and love. He would need medicine they could not afford. He needed warmth they could not provide. He needed doctors they could not take him to. He needed special equipment for food that they could not get their hands on. As badly as Goku loved the image of taking his son home, there was no way they could take care of the boy. A group of older teenagers could get by in a poorly heated, dimly lit apartment with minimal food and supplies, but a baby? Even if his son had been born healthy and at the right time, Goku began to realize just how impossible it would have been.

Chi-Chi stirred slightly, rolling over and slowly opening her eyes. "Hey," she groggily greeted. "What time is it?"

Goku glanced up at the wall clock. "Quarter to three," he softly told her. "You should go back to sleep."

"Why are you up?" his girlfriend asked, slowly gaining more awareness of her surroundings.

Goku ran his fingers through her long black hair again. "Couldn't sleep," he honestly answered. "There's a lot on my mind."

Chi-Chi frowned slightly and turned over all the way, looking her love directly in the eye. "Goku, honey," she started, her voice gentle but concerned, "you need to get your rest, too."

"I know," he admitted. "I was just thinking about how lucky we really are."

Wide awake, Chi-Chi sat up in her bed, using two pillows to support her back. "Huh?" As far as she had been concerned, their luck had been nothing but abysmal as of late. Where was the good fortune her boyfriend spoke of?

"Well, yeah," the tall boy explained. "I mean, it really sucks that it kind of went down the way it did, but think about it. How would we have gotten by without all the help we have? How would you have gotten to the hospital if Bulma hadn't come to us a few months ago? How would we have kept working at all without Krillen and Vegeta putting in that much effort? How could we even have hope of seeing our son again if my brother hadn't been brought in? How could I even be in here with you if we didn't have nurses that were willing to look the other way? I mean yeah, a lot of this has been like one giant crap storm, but when you really think about it, we lucked out. Big time."

Slowly, a soft smile formed on Chi-Chi's face. "You're right," she responded, her voice soft. "We really have been blessed."

"And," Goku went on, "Raditz promised that we would be able to see him every single day. Who else could we have gotten that from?"

"No one," his girlfriend agreed.

"Exactly! And I just know in my heart that he's going to be fine, and that everything is going to work out in the end. I mean, my ideas were, I guess, a little far fetched before all of this happened, but now we really have hope."

Quiet tears rolled delicately down the girl's cheeks as she leaned up and gave her lover a kiss on the forehead. He really was an amazing young man. Even in times of trouble and crisis, Goku could, at the end of almost every day, see the silver lining to any cloud. There was always hope to him. There was always a way to make things at least a little better. True, he had struggled some in the past few days, in more ways than Chi-Chi would ever know. But there he was, in dire times, holding her, caring for her, and telling her that everything would be alright.

And she believed him.

/

Krillen rolled his head from side to side, roughly trying to work out the tension in his neck. Things could not get worse. There was a barely alive baby in the hospital, Goku was out of his bloody mind with ideas to take that baby home, Bulma was strapping people down in their sleep, Vegeta had gone God only knows where in anger, and personally, Krillen was sure that all that tension was going to give him a massive stroke before he turned twenty.

It was ten past three in the morning, and he was utterly exhausted, but there was no sleep in his immediate future. Caffeine had been consumed in an otherwise empty system well before dinner had been ready, and it was doing its job well. That, combined with his tension, left him wide eyed and staring at Raditz' living room ceiling. After the tension of the day, Krillen had opted to stay the night on the older boy's couch, rather than walking back to his own hard floored apartment. In retrospect, the tiny teen realized that not going back might be misconstrued by Vegeta as some sort of betrayal. However, in the middle of the night, worn to his limits, stressed, worried, and without telling anyone of his plans, leaving really was not a good option. They were already in trouble with Vegeta as it was. He may as well stay put.

"You awake?"

Krillen squawked and flipped off the couch. "Holy crap," he panted. "You scared the snot out of me!"

"Not literally, I hope," Raditz responded, turning on a dim light. "That's my couch you're on."

The smaller male blinked, forcing his eyes to adjust to the light as he scurried his way back on to the couch. "Don't worry," he assured. "Your furniture's fine."

Slowly, Raditz made his way fully into the living room and took a seat on the far end of the furniture. "Glad to hear it." The two sat in silence for a few odd minutes before Krillen got sick of it and broke the silence.

"So, you're up late," he casually mentioned.

"Yeah," Raditz agreed. "There's a lot on my mind."

"Ditto."

Again they fell into silence, and again they had to wait for Krillen to get nervous and speak. "So what's on your mind? I can't believe you came out here and scared the crap out of me without a decent reason."

Raditz sighed and shook his head. "This whole thing is just blowing my mind," he confessed. "A week ago I was this single guy who lived alone and didn't really talk with his family. Now I've got a live in fiancé, a nephew I'm going to raise, social services watching me, and this whole crazy political fight thing going on with Vegeta and my idiotic little brother. And every time I think I'm getting a solid grasp on it, some other crap pops up and throws me off again."

Krillen let out a low whistle. "Man, I feel sorry for you," he sympathized. "And for what it's worth, we're all really grateful for everything you're doing for us. There's no way we could do any of this without your help. You are so saving our asses, and I feel like we're totally taking advantage of you."

"Don't worry about it," Raditz dismissed, though he still sounded stressed and exhausted. "You do what you have to for family. My brother might be an idiot who gets in over his head, but he's still family."

The petite teenager smiled. "You're a good man."

"Or I'm a sucker."

"Or that," Krillen agreed with a small chuckle. "But either way, we appreciate the heck out of you."

Nodding slightly, Raditz cleared his throat. "Listen, I need your help with something."

Krillen frowned. The tone did not indicate anything good was about to be asked of him, but it was hard not to feel indebted to the man that was keeping them out of the fire. "What is it?"

The tall young man sat quietly for a brief moment, trying to put his thoughts into words. "Look, there's no way that social services is just going to hand a kid over to me and Bulma if we're just this young, engaged couple. They're not going to see that as a solid enough foundation for something like this."

The younger male nodded, remaining quiet as he listened.

"In order to really pull this off," Raditz went on, "I'm actually going to have to marry her."

"Eh?" Krillen had not figured that into the calculations. They were going to have to actually get married? Like, _legally_ married? "Holy crap, I think you're right!"

"I know I am," Raditz quickly responded. "And if that's what I have to do, then so be it. I mean, it's not like I really had an active dating life or anything. But if I am going to get married to someone, I need to know more about her than I already know. I'm going to be living with her for a long, long time, and I need to know what I'm really getting myself into."

Krillen nodded along again. "Okay," he slowly answered. "So, this is the part where you ask me about her?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

That certainly took fair consideration, something that Krillen had held neither the time nor the energy for since the ordeal had begun. "Well," he very slowly began, "I can tell you that she's smart. Like, really smart. Like, has given us things we couldn't even dream of having before she came to us smart. And she's not afraid to stand up for herself…usually. Sometimes she gets in this weird, skittish mode, but that's usually reserved for moments when she kinda knows she's wrong about something, so it doesn't happen much. She's brave and she's strong, and she really appreciates it when you treat her like any other person instead of a hot chick or an ex rich girl."

Raditz cast the boy a sideways glance. "Do you like her?" he asked with a smirk.

"She's a slammin' hot genius who knows I live illegally in an abandoned apartment and dropped out of junior high who still treats me like a real person," he retorted. "Of course I do!"

"Does it bug you that she and I are, you know, getting together and everything?" Raditz questioned.

Krillen shrugged. "If your asking if I wish she and I could have hooked up at some point," he honestly answered, "then yeah, I was hoping. But it's not like I was ever going to say anything to her about it or do anything about it, so she's fair game. No worries."

Again, Raditz nodded slightly. "Okay. Good to know." A brief pause occurred before he found himself asking, "What about her and Vegeta?"

Krillen snorted. "Oh, please," he snidely responded. "Those two aren't even close to together. They're both too egocentric to be able to make anything work, so even if they were interested, which they aren't, then it would be total disaster. Believe me, there's nothing to worry about there." He paused for a deep breath. "Why are you asking that?"

Raditz shrugged. "I don't know, it just seemed like there was some weird energy between them. I figured the best odds were with them having some kind of history with each other."

"Nah, it's just a clash of the egos," Krillen assured. "I mean, they might find each other physically attractive, I don't know, but there is _no_ love lost between them."

"Okay." If that was what Krillen swore was the case, then Raditz would take it at face value. Krillen was not a great liar, and even if he was, he knew the little man was not foolish enough to be misleading in such things. There was too much on the line, and he knew that Krillen put the safety of the group first. "So, since we're both up, tell me more about the snoring machine taking up my bed…"

/

It was four in the morning as he stared into that room. The hallways were lit as brightly as ever, but that room remained fairly dim for the sake of the young ones that lay within. There was no way that it could be argued that it was even close to visiting hours, but getting in and out of a place undetected had never really been an issue for him. He was keenly aware of when someone was approaching, and could easily keep himself from being caught. There were odd doctors and nurses that had passed by, but none of them had even suspected his presence.

He hated that building. Hated everything about it. He knew, deep down, that it did a lot of good, but it would never mean anything but pain to him. He had been there before. Too often he had been there before. And never, never did it do anything to lessen his stress about it. Each time just seemed to make it that much worse.

There were too many similarities. Too many terrible memories. But still he returned, still he watched. It was like a drug he was not able to get out of his system. He was drawn to the pain, drawn to the pitiful nature of the situation. There was never anything he could do about it, but still, he felt compelled to look on.

The boy hardly looked alive to him. Frail body, disproportionate limbs, skin that seemed translucent. All terrible signs, all miserable predictors of survival. Even the best medical treatment in the world would only help that child so much, and what they could access was hardly the best in the world. The others seemed to firmly believe that their biggest concern was what to do with the boy when he was ready to be taken home. After all, he was the one who first made plans to make sure they would be ready for that.

But as Vegeta glanced into that room, watching those minimal signs of life, he knew that there was a good chance they would not need to follow through with their plans. The social worker may not be needed. The courtship could be dissolved. Finding warmth and supplies for the child would probably not even come in to play.

In his mind, there was no way that child would survive.


	24. Chapter 24

"I come bearing gifts of caffeine," Bulma softly greeted as she entered the room.

Goku looked up at the blue haired girl and smiled. "You're the best," he told her, greedily eyeing the coffees that she carried in.

"Yes, I really am," she dramatically accepted. "See how generous I can be using someone else's money to buy sustenance for the group? Why, I'm so good at it I might even do a repeat performance for a full on breakfast!"

From her bed, Chi-Chi groaned slightly, forcing herself to wake up all the way. "Are you two quite done with that yet?"

Her lover sent a teasing look her way. "Aw, and here I thought you knew me," he gently mocked.

With a smile, Bulma handed one of the cups to the new, still somewhat weakened mother. "Here," she gently offered. "And don't worry, I made sure it's decaf."

"Alright, my idiot boyfriend was right," Chi-Chi responded as she took the cup. "You really are the best. I was afraid for a minute that I wasn't going to be able to have any, and then I'd have to kill you."

"I know I am the best," the former heiress beamed. She was not sure why, but she felt oddly energized. Despite the unbelievable tension the day before, she had slept soundly and peacefully. It was the best rest she had gotten in months. And on top of that, she had taken a nice, long shower that morning, followed by a wonderful breakfast. With all of that going for her, there was more than a little spring in her step.

She was the only one feeling perky. Goku and Chi-Chi had been up and talking off and on through the night, and while they were in high spirits, they were hardly well rested. And Krillen and Raditz had also been up and discussing the scenario they were facing, leaving them worn out and not nearly as happy as the young couple. But it was a new day, and both of them wanted to at least attempt to make it decent in spite of the chaos around them.

The group maintained small talk for several minutes, none of them daring to bring up any of the issues they were facing. It was almost as though they honestly believed that as long as they did not talk about them, their problems would simply cease to exist.

After their brief social time, Goku finally asked, "Hey, where's Vegeta?"

The room fell quiet as three others exchanged weary glances. "Well," Krillen slowly began to explain, "you see…I mean, the thing here is…what I'm trying to say is…"

"We don't know," Raditz interrupted, rolling his eyes at Krillen's immature behavior. "He wasn't with us last night and he didn't come back in the morning."

Goku frowned. "That doesn't sound right. Do you think he's in trouble or something?"

"No," Bulma assured. "I think he's having a temper fit or something."

The tall teenager looked over at Krillen, asking without words if he agreed. Bulma had only recently come to be a part of their lives, and Raditz barely knew Vegeta beyond temperament. But Krillen had known Vegeta for years, and had proven fairly adept at reading the cantankerous teen's moods.

Krillen nodded along. "Yeah," the shortest of the group explained, "there was a bit of a disagreement yesterday, and he stormed out of Raditz' place pretty pissed, but I don't think he got into anything he couldn't handle. We just don't know where he is right now."

While the information helped a little, it was difficult to not still be concerned. In the years that their little group had existed, they had almost always done everything they could to know where someone was supposed to be at any given time. It was dangerous to not have that information. However, if any of them were going to drop off for a while, it was Vegeta. And if any of them would be able to survive alone, it was Vegeta. Still, a total disappearance was highly unusual.

"He'll show up when he's ready," Goku surmised with a shrug. "I guess that's when he does anything, isn't it?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Krillen agreed. "Now come on, we've got a day off, and I say we enjoy it!"

/

A few hours later found the young adults relaxing in their own ways. Chi-Chi was taking a long, well deserved nap. Against Goku's wishes, Krillen opted to take him and go back to their apartment to do nothing and have fun doing it, insisting that Goku needed to leave for the sake of his own sanity. And Raditz had taken Bulma to a local park, taking in the cool, fresh air as he sat her down to ask her a question.

"I…I don't know what to say."

It was the only response Bulma could have come up with at that exact moment. Her head felt a little numb from the discussion she was having, and if not for the fact that she could feel soreness in her muscles from her past work, she would have sworn that she was in the middle of a dream. But she was wide awake, and the situation was as real as anything else.

Raditz, sitting beside her on the park bench, sighed. "I know, I know, it sounds nuts," he admitted. "But can you honestly tell me there's any other way this is going to get pulled off?"

"Well, no," the former heiress softly agreed. "I totally understand what you're saying, but…isn't it a little farther than either of us agreed to go? I mean, this is going to change our lives forever."

"How?" he questioned. "I know that a lot of things right now are going to change everything forever, but how is this? Tell me straight, right now, how this will actually change anything in your life, at all, from the way it is right now."

Bulma looked away as she thought. He was right, there was nothing really standing in the way, and in the end it really did not change anything. But it still sounded like so much to her, and she was not certain that she would be able to go through with it. "Can I have a little time?"

"How little do you need?" he asked. "Hate to say it, but everything we do right now is kind of on a time crunch."

"I know, I know." She sighed and shook her head. "You know what? The hell with it. You're absolutely right, it won't change a damn thing. Raditz, I would love to marry you."

The young man smiled at the girl who had just officially accepted a proposal from him. "That's great. That'll make so much of this easier."

"Boy, isn't that what every girl wants to hear right after she gets engaged," Bulma teased.

"What can I say?" he responded, giving her a roguish smile. "I'm a hopeless romantic."

Bulma laughed, and the young couple enjoyed a few minutes of peaceful silence. It was not long, however, before the smile began to fade from Bulma's face. Concerned, Raditz gently lifted her hand and asked, "What's wrong?"

The teenager shrugged. "I'm just worried about Vegeta, that's all."

Raditz frowned. "Aren't you the one who said he was just having a temper fit or something?"

"Yeah," she consented, "but Goku did have a point. This isn't like him. I know he's a pain in the butt and he can be pissy as hell, but I've never known him to just up and leave for a whole day. He's always stayed kind of close to the group. As long as I've known him, he's been almost oddly territorial with us. It's like we're his toys, and he's allowed to do whatever he wants with us, but he doesn't want anyone else messing with his stuff."

The young man shrugged, not really knowing what else to do. "Well, Krillen said he was going back to the apartment for a bit. My guess is that Vegeta was already there when shorty walked in. I don't know the little son of a bitch better than any of you, but I do know you're right, he's extremely territorial. He's not going to just up and go over a tiff."

"I guess you're right," Bulma agreed. "It's still weird, though."

"Just try not to think about it," her fiancé advised. "If he's still gone in another couple days, we can worry then. Until then, let him have his mood. For all you know, he's just been asleep this entire time. God knows he's been beyond exhausted. He could probably sleep for days."

"Yeah." With a tired sigh of her own, she nuzzled against his shoulder. "So when are you going to take me ring shopping? Ooh, and I'll need to start looking for a dress soon. Although I'm not sure what size I am now because, let's face it, I'm thinner than I was the last time I went gown shopping. And we're going to need to book the hall, and start working on the seating arrangements, and think about what flowers we're going to want, and…" She paused and looked up at her intended and grinned. "Do you have any idea how tense your body feels right now?"

No response came.

Bulma laughed and gave him a playful slap on the chest. "Relax," she assured. "I'm just screwing with you. I know this'll totally be a city hall, sign your name, yay for you, now let's grab a burger kind of wedding. I'm not expecting anything fancy."

"Thank you," Raditz said, letting out a breath he had not known he was holding. "Man, you really had me worried for a minute."

"Girl's gotta have fun somehow," she laughed. "Now come on, I think we should get back to the hospital."

/

"Are you serious?" Goku asked, catching the tennis ball his best friend had just thrown to him.

"Yup," Krillen nodded. "He had a good point, too. They're going to need to get it done if they're going to be approved to be your kid's legal guardians."

Goku tossed the ball back. "I still can't really wrap my head around it. Raditz is going to ask Bulma to marry him?"

The shorter teenager juggled the ball a few times before returning it. "Probably asking her right now. He told me that's what he was planning to do, at least." He reached out and caught the ball again as it flew near his shoulder. "Wouldn't be surprised if it takes him a few days, though."

"Why?"

Krillen rolled his eyes. "Goku, I know you found your soul mate who you were going to spend the rest of your life with years ago, but cut your brother some slack. He hasn't even known Bulma for a week and he's already going to have to marry her. That takes guts."

Goku paused the game as he thought. "I guess you're right." He shook his head and stretched out his legs. "I still can't believe any of this is happening. I've got a girlfriend who is in the hospital, barely out of that crazy fever, I've got a brother marrying a girl he just met in order to make my life easier, and I've got a son who's…" He stopped speaking, a miserably looked at the floor.

"Yeah," Krillen simply supplied when his friend did not finish the thought. "But you know what? I know everything will work out in the end. You'll see."

His friend chuckled lightly. "I thought it was my job to be so optimistic that it seemed kind of foolish."

The smaller teen laughed back. "Well, you're tired, and someone's got to do it. Let's face it, this group doesn't survive without at least a _little _blind optimism. I'm just picking it up a little for you."

"Well thank you." Goku glanced over to their side and nodded toward a still body a few feet away. "When do you think he's going to wake up?"

Krillen looked over to where Vegeta lay. "I dunno, a few more hours? Honestly, I don't know how he's not dead yet. He's been going and going and going for days. By all rights he should have dropped like this a long time ago. I'm actually really glad that he finally fell asleep. I was getting worried."

True enough, Vegeta was dead to the world asleep in the room. While normally a ridiculously light sleeper, he had finally and at last allowed his body the rest it desperately needed, falling into such a deep sleep that he had not even stirred when the other two boys had none too quietly entered.

"You're sure he's alive?" Goku asked. "I still say that I haven't seen him move yet. That tends not to be a sign of being, you know, alive."

Rolling his eyes, Krillen responded, "Yes, he's alive. I took his pulse when we got here, didn't I?"

"Yeah…"

"See?" When he saw the still wary look on his friend's face, he sighed. "Do you want me to take his pulse again?"

Goku sheepishly shrugged. "If you don't mind?"

It did not take long for Krillen to confirm that Vegeta was, in fact, still alive. "There you go. Still breathing, still has a pulse, still asleep."

"Just checking," his friend replied. "I'm with you, I thought he'd drop a long time ago. Really, do you think it's that farfetched?"

"Just throw me the damn ball."

They continued to quietly play catch for another hour before Goku found himself looking out the window so often that he was taking more hits to the head than the hand. "I really think I need to get back."

Though he had been hoping to keep his friend distracted longer, he understood the importance of letting him return to the hospital as desired. "Yeah, sure, no problem. But I think I'm going to hang out here until Vegeta either wakes up or dies."

"Alright." With a sigh, Goku got up. "Thanks for trying to keep me relaxed. It's been a rough few days, and I needed it. But really, Chi-Chi's gonna wake up soon, and I do want to spend a little time with the boy before I talk to her again."

Krillen stretched out as he, too, got to his feet. "Still no name for the little guy, eh?"

"No, not yet. We had a couple of names we had been a little interested in, but we didn't really pick one before any of this happened. We thought we had more time."

Krillen shrugged. "You've still got time," he assured. "We'll just make up nicknames for him until you two actually pick something out. What are some of the names you were thinking about? You never did talk to us about it."

"Because I was sworn to secrecy," Goku explained. "Which, by the way, is why you're not going to hear them now. She might still be sick, but Chi-Chi will kill me dead if I start blabbing now. I've managed to keep it to myself this long, and I'm not going to blow it."

"Hey, no worries," his friend assured. "Honestly, I'm pretty impressed that you actually managed to keep a secret."

Goku smiled. "I know, right? Anyway, I've got to get going."

They made plans to meet up again and said their good-byes, and soon Krillen was quietly bouncing the ball off the wall in their abandoned building. "You know," he explained to Vegeta's unconscious body, "you may not want to admit it, but you are only human. You actually could die from exhaustion, you know. And we're screwed without you, but you knew that, too. So I'm just going to stay here and keep an eye on you, and until you have _recovered_, not just woken up, but full on recovered, I'm going to make sure we keep it all together. We've gotten too much done to quit now. So you just rest. And I know this isn't one of your gifts, but try to think happy thoughts. Think about the wedding or something. Boy, won't that surprise you when you wake up, finding out that Raditz and Bulma actually are getting hitched. Crazy, right? I can't wait to see the look on your face when you find out about that one."

Had he looked over, Krillen would have gotten his wish, because Vegeta had just woken up, and he had heard every word.


	25. Chapter 25

It was with great anxiety that Bulma approached the station. There was a question that needed to be asked, one that could not possibly have a good answer and yet they needed to know. There was no way they were going to be able to leave the hospital without some sort of payment option in play. How they were ever going to pay it off, Bulma did not know. Between the delivery and the ongoing care of the new babe they had run up a bill that had to be tens of thousands of dollars. As it was they were living off of a couple hundred a month. Raditz would be able to help out, but only to a certain extent. He hardly had an unlimited income, as she herself had once had. Bulma sighed as she stepped up. If only she had access to all that money she used to have…

"Excuse me," she asked the woman at the station, "I have a question."

The nurse nodded and smiled. "What can we help you with?"

Bulma swallowed unconsciously. She was still not entirely certain why she had volunteered to be the one to take on the task at hand. It made perfect sense that it would be her responsibility, but why, oh why, had she openly volunteered for the job? "I have a couple questions about payment," she began.

She made it no further before the nurse politely interrupted. "I'm sorry, honey, but we don't handle the finances up here," she kindly explained. "The only paperwork we handle involves the care of our patients. The nearest office for the business end is on the second floor. I'll write down the directions for you."

Bulma thanked her as she got the directions. A part of her was relieved that she had been temporarily spared from the conversation, but the more logical part of her mind was reminding her loudly that it was only a temporary stay of execution. She still needed to do it. It was only a five minute reprieve. The ride in the elevator seemed to go on forever, even though she was only traveling a couple floors down. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had been so wealthy that the idea of a hospital tab seemed like a dismissible amount of money. Had she really been that wealthy? Had she truly been that fortunate? It had not been all that long, but to her it felt as though that entire existence was nothing more than a dream that was fading into nothingness.

/

Krillen leaned back as he tried to balance a spoon on his face. "How the hell do you guys do this?" he asked.

Beside him, Goku laughed. "Well for starters having a nose helps."

"Liar!" the shorter boy jokingly accused. "You're lying to me! You clearly are just trying to keep me from achieving a level of awesomeness that you will never get to! Your brother ran away to work because he realized my potential for awesomeness. You are stifling my amazing powers, but I will do it! Then you'll learn!"

"Learn what?" Goku asked.

"Exactly!"

Chi-Chi smiled as she watched the two boys joke around with one another. Physically and mentally she was near exhausted. Between fighting the fever off and having the baby she felt as though there was nothing left to her. And she fought hard to keep her worries about her child as far from her mind as possible. She had never held her son. Only once had she been wheeled around to the outer wall of the NICU to see him. There was simply too much risk of something being spread from her to the boy if she got near him. It pained her in a way she had never before known. The distraction that her lover and friend were providing her was vital to her sanity.

Several minutes more passed with Krillen attempting to balance that spoon, and the dark haired mother found herself drifting off. Soon enough she was once again asleep, a state she was often in over the past few days. It was in that state that she lay when Bulma quietly entered the room. "Hey," she softly greeted. "How is she?"

"Sleeping like a baby," Goku gently answered. "So how'd it go?"

Bulma could not describe the feeling that was covering her senses at the moment. It was odd, like a strange sense of heightened awareness that was trying desperately to get out only to be covered by an oddly muting numbness. "I don't even know where to begin."

Krillen grimaced. "That bad, huh?"

The former heiress shook her head. "It's, well…it's fine."

The two boys blinked, confused. "Come again?" Krillen asked.

"It's fine," Bulma repeated, just as baffled as they were. "It's all taken care of. We don't owe a dime."

"How is that even possible?" Goku asked. "Shouldn't we owe, like, a million dollars?"

Bulma shrugged. "When I talked to the woman in the business office she told me that the paperwork had already been taken care of," was all she could offer. "I tried asking more, but she kept telling me that I didn't need to worry and that everything was all taken care of."

Krillen slowly got to his feet, not even aware of his actions. "So you're telling us what, that we're getting all this on the house?"

Another shrug. "Apparently," was all she could say.

"But how?" Goku asked.

Bulma really had no further information than what she had already given them. The only difference between them and herself was that she had time to process slightly in the elevator. It was a four minute head start and it barely kept her ahead of them. They were stuck in the question asking phase, she had moved on to uneasy acceptance. "I'm not sure I want to know more," she admitted. "I've been assured we don't owe any money. And don't get me wrong, I really hope it's true. But I don't see how it's possible, and if I go back and ask again they might find out they made a mistake. You know what I'm saying?"

The two boys slowly nodded, migrating into the same odd state their friend was in. "It seems smart to me," Krillen agreed.

While Goku was nodding, he was also wearing a frown. "It just doesn't seem honest to me."

"They're the ones that told us it was taken care of," Krillen pointed out. "They said it. We didn't push them or pressure them or try to get out of anything. We went down to find a way to pay, and they told us not to. Why would we want to argue that?"

"But what if they did make a mistake?" Goku urged on.

Krillen shook his head. "It's their tough luck."

Bulma frowned. "When did you turn into Vegeta?"

"When Vegeta finally blacked out," Krillen quickly answered. "And before you ask, don't worry. He's alive, just resting. Goku made me take his pulse repeatedly."

"It's true," Goku nodded. "I did."

Taking a seat, the blue haired beauty's frown deepened. "You left him unconscious and alone?"

Krillen stared at her. "This from the chick who left him unconscious, alone, and strapped to a couch with an elaborate system of belts?"

It felt like a slap to the face, and Bulma desperately wanted to argue it, but she knew she could not. She had done exactly what Krillen accused her of. At the time it had made perfect sense to her. It had seemed totally reasonable to force him to rest. But hindsight offers perfect vision, and in the aftermath of her actions she understood what a poor plan it had been. Embarrassed she looked away.

Krillen let out a tired sigh as he realized how hurtful his words might have been. "I'm sorry," he sincerely apologized. He had not intended to hurt her so, and wanted to change the subject. "So, what do you think the deal is with the whole money thing?"

"I don't know," Bulma answered. "The way I figure it, there are only a couple of possibilities. I would guess that the most likely one is that they crossed our information with someone else's, and that the person they swapped us with has awesome insurance. A paperwork snafu makes the most sense to me. I suppose it is also possible that they know we don't really have anything and that they're deliberately messing with the paperwork to give us a break. I don't think it's likely, though."

"Anything else it might be?" Goku asked. He was sincerely hoping there was a more honest way for them to afford what they owed.

Sitting down, Bulma thought about it. "The only other thing that comes to mind is that someone picked up the tab for us, but who the hell would do that?"

Krillen's head tilted slightly to the side. "You don't think…no, it can't be."

"Yeah, I thought of that too," Bulma agreed. "It just doesn't make sense, though."

Goku looked back and forth between his two friends. "Okay, you two clearly know something I don't know. What are you guys talking about?"

Bulma crossed her legs and leaned back into the chair. "The old guy," she brought up. "I mean yeah, I guess he could have. He was here, and he knows we don't have any money. But it would cost a small fortune to handle this out of pocket, and he just met us. It doesn't make a world of sense. Why would someone do that?"

"Maybe he's just really nice?" Goku pitched. "I mean, he's been really nice so far. Is it really that big a stretch that he would do something like this?"

"He's got money," Krillen agreed, "but he's not super wealthy. There's no way he could just write a check or something."

"Krillen's right," Bulma chimed in. "He would go into an unbelievable amount of debt if he picked up the bill for this." She paused and brought her fingers up to her chin as she contemplated something. "He's old."

Krillen looked at her in an odd way. "How is this news?"

"It's not. But it's something that factors in." She leaned forward and clasped her hands in her lap. "He's a pretty old guy, and he's probably only got a decade or so left on him if he's healthy, right?"

The boys nodded in agreement.

"So what if," she continued, "he took on a large debt knowing that he wouldn't have to pay it off? What if he knows something we don't, something like a disease that's probably going to end his life in the next year? He might have the money to make payments if it was a ten year plan but he only intended to pay for it for a single year. Especially if he's got a little bit of savings."

They were quiet for a moment. Goku was the first to eventually speak. "Do you really think he might be sick?" he quietly asked.

"I really don't know," she honestly answered. "I'm not really basing it on anything. It's just a theory."

"If that is the case, we do not accept charity."

The three looked to the doorway, all of them slightly stunned. None of them had heard Vegeta arrive. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear your theorized explanations." He entered the room fully and leaned against the wall. He did not look much better than he had the last time they had seen him on his feet, but at least he was no longer swaying in his attempt to stay upright. His nose was still broken, and the bruising from it had spread well under his eyes and onto his cheeks. His skin was still paler than usual. His hair seemed frayed and frazzled compared to its normal state. And his eyes, they were slightly tinged red with exhaustion. But if nothing else he was awake and he was coherent. That put him far ahead of where he was earlier.

Krillen got up and silently offered his seat, and when cues were given that Vegeta would not accept, the shorter boy opted to stay up. "Which do you think it is?" he asked.

"The old fool is probably involved," Vegeta sneered. "No hospital is going to make a mistake of this magnitude. They could not afford to."

"So what if he is?" Bulma questioned. "We're not exactly in a position to turn him down."

Vegeta glared at her. "No one makes a gesture like that without serious motive. We do not know what he is planning, we do not know why he would do it, and we do not know what it would actually cost us in the end. That is why we do not accept charity."

"But what else would we do?" Bulma asked. "If someone is willing to pay for us, to pay something there's no way in hell we could afford on our own, what other option do we have?"

"We will think of something," he stubbornly claimed. "We cannot risk falling into someone else's control."

But the former heiress remained unconvinced. "I've been wracking my brain, trying to think of anything else we could do. We'd never pay it off, Vegeta. Unless we won the lottery or something, we would never pay it off. We would have to sink every dime we earned into this, leaving nothing left for food or clothes or anything like that, and we would be paying it for thirty years, and we would still be thousands of dollars short."

Vegeta seemed angered by her words, but he kept quiet for once. There was a truth in her logic. They never would pay it off, not unless a miracle occurred. But he refused to accept a random charity, particularly one of such magnitude. There was a catch. There was always a catch. And whatever that catch was, they would have no way around it. If the old man paid for their hospital bill, he would, in effect, own them. It was a position that Vegeta would never be willing to place himself in.

As they all quietly tried to make sense of their situation, Raditz knocked and entered. "Hey," he greeted, slightly out of breath.

"Raditz?" Bulma got to her feet quickly. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to take a shower and then go to work for a while."

"I was," he gasped, "but I had to come back."

Everyone was on edge immediately. "What happened?" Vegeta sharply demanded.

Raditz swallowed, a vain attempt to moisten his dry throat. "When I got home there was a message on the machine," he explained. "Apparently when we started the paperwork for the whole foster thing, Bulma's contact information managed to get accessed by the courts or something. I didn't really get the explanation they gave. Anyway, some lawyer called. Bulma, they said they need to talk to you. They need to talk to you now."

Bulma felt the blood drain from her face. "Do you know why?" she quietly asked.

The long haired man shook his head. "No idea," he answered. "They didn't leave much detail, only a confusing explanation of how they found you, that they needed you right away, and a number to call them back at."

"What do you think it is?" Krillen asked the blue haired girl.

Slowly, Bulma got to her feet. It had to be about her parents. It had to be. Had something happened? She had deliberately been avoiding anything there was that had to do with their trial. When she found hints in newspaper headlines she turned her head, refusing to read them. In the hospital, when a news show would come on the television and indicate that their story was coming up, she always found a way to either change the channel or politely leave the room. She had cut her ties with them, and she was okay with that, so long as they stayed severed. She wanted nothing to do with them. And she knew nothing of their business affairs, leaving her useless as a witness in their trial. So what could they need her for?

Numbness spread around her as she went to Raditz' side, and she did not speak a single word as he drove her back to the apartment.


	26. Chapter 26

Bulma squirmed in her seat as Raditz drove her back to the apartment. It had been months since she had interacted with her old life, and she had started to move on from it. No longer did she think of herself as a should-be heiress. After all, anyone she had once held ties to had run from her family when her parents had first gotten in trouble. No one had wanted to be associated with the Briefs for fear of being accused. And since she had lost her home, no one had been able to keep track of the blue haired beauty. She had gone off the grid. But with her filing to become a foster parent to Goku and Chi-Chi's son, she almost magically existed in the 'real' world again.

She was fairly certain that she was not going to be happy with what that meant. As far as she was concerned, her parents had betrayed her. They had made their choices, and it had bitten her right in the ass. If they had not done what they had done, she would not have ever known what it was like to starve to the point of pain or to sleep on a bench just to get off the ground. She would have never have feared for her safety or found herself willing to steal. So many things in her life had altered radically in an instant, and it was their fault. They had done it to her.

The ride was silent, neither one of them knowing what to say to the other. Raditz tried to come up with something reassuring, but absolutely nothing came to mind. Not even terrible ideas. There was nothing there at all. And Bulma, who had just found her world spinning out of her control once again, was in a bit of an emotional overload. The ride felt as though it went on forever, and the walk into the apartment did not fare any better.

The two stood over the answering machine, watching the red light blinking, begging them to listen. When Bulma did not make a move to press the button, her fiancé was unsure of how to react. Instinct was pushing him to just push the damn button, since she needed to hear it no matter what she wanted. But at the same time, her distress was more than evident, and the idea of being the one to push her that one step too far bothered him greatly. A minute or so went by with neither of them moving before Raditz did, in fact, take command and press the button.

As Bulma listened to the message, she could feel a layer of sweat forming on her palms. She did not want to call them back. She did not want to talk to them at all, ever. That part of her life was closed and done with, and while being an heiress had certainly and undeniably been a more comfortable life, she did not actually want to return to it at all. When her family had wealth, they had been the social elite. Everyone wanted to spend time with them, claiming to be their friends and colleagues, associates and allies. There was never want for company when you had more money than anyone else in the world. Bulma had never largely subscribed to those friendships, and for good reason. The family was in trouble, the money had left and with the money gone, all of those so called friends and well-wishers had vanished. The former heiress found she much preferred her newer social circle, one formed through hard work, trust, and loyalty. The door to her old life had been closed. She should have locked it and thrown away the key.

The message was every bit as vague as Raditz had led her to believe. They simply spoke of how hard it had been to locate her, that they had been trying to find her, and that they needed her to call back as soon as possible. There was nothing else, no way to know what they actually wanted. And that made Bulma start to panic.

"Do you want some privacy when you call them back?" It was a double edged question, offering her space while forcing her to move on. While he did not wish to harm her emotionally, it was not only her life that had been rocked dramatically. Everything he had known about his life had essentially changed overnight, and no matter what, there was always going to be an element of self-protection in his actions. It was human nature. And while he did not know specifics of anything, he was fairly sure that failing to respond long enough would give cause for them to send someone physically. There was no way something like that was going to end well for any of them.

But Bulma, for the time being, remained too shell shocked to see that future. Suddenly sleeping on a park bench and having to scrape by for food no longer seemed like terrible alternatives to facing her former life. The information given was so vague that a series of horrible scenarios popped in her mind. The one that sang out loudest was that someone, somewhere, had somehow managed to connect her to the mess her parents had gotten themselves into, and that she would be standing beside them at the trial, and not to defend them. Fear had filled her. Her heart began to race as she thought of being put in prison for something she had no way of participating in directly. Oh, prison…

"Bulma?" Raditz asked, looking at her with great concern. "Are you okay?"

"What?" Her voice was soft and shaky. "Oh. I, uh…um…" Words were not entering her mind. She was on the verge of a shutdown.

Raditz gently placed his hands on her shoulders and guided her toward the couch. "Okay, alright, here we go," he soothingly coached. "Take it easy, come sit down." He was not entirely sure of what was going on with her, but it was fairly plain that it was not good.

Bulma was only half aware of the fact that she was sitting down. Her over stressed system was lowering her ability to comprehend her surroundings clearly. It would be some time before she would feel recovered enough to pick up the phone and make the call.

And Raditz waited with her every minute.

/

"I must say," the doctor said with a smile, "you seem to be recovering extremely well."

Chi-Chi nodded, a tense smile on her face. "I'm strong."

"I know it," the doctor replied, still grinning. "You came in with a spiking fever, and already your temperature is back to normal, your heart and lungs sound great, your color has dramatically improved, and your overall strength is quite impressive. You must have some amazing genes in there."

"Yeah, they're great," she quickly responded. "Does this mean I can hold my son now?"

The smile disappeared from the doctor's face. "Unfortunately, no," she answered. "I'm sorry, but he is still in a critical state, and we don't know for certain that you or your friends won't spread the bug you had. Better safe than sorry."

"But…" It was a brutal sentence to get out, but it had been one haunting her since her arrival at the hospital. "But…but what if he doesn't…"

"Miss," the doctor interrupted, "he is in excellent hands, and medical science has come a long way, even in the last few years. While he is weak and he is in a precarious state, we have every reason to believe that he will make it. That boy is a fighter. Just like his mother before him."

Chi-Chi was not sure whether she believed that optimistic outlook or not. "Are you sure?"

A hint of that smile showed up again. "Yes. Despite his status, he is showing remarkable strength. All things considered, his heart and lungs are better than we could have hoped for. His skin will be less transparent as he ages, and in a few months he will likely no longer require a tube for feedings. Your son is small, yes, but I think he's going to be just fine. The nursing staff is keeping you updated on his progress, right?" Seeing the young mother nod, the doctor pulled off her gloves and tossed them away. "I hear a friend of yours brought you in that night."

The brunette looked away. It was true, it had taken Bulma to get her to the emergency room. Had it been up to Chi-Chi, she would have stayed in the apartment. More than one doctor had pointed out to her that if she had not come in, she would most likely be dead, and her son definitely would not have survived. Bulma had saved them both.

The doctor wrote something down, still with a bit of a smile. "You're lucky," she said, clicking her pen shut. "You've got good friends."

Chi-Chi nodded. The doctor was right, she really did have good friends. And she owed one of them her life.

/

Goku squirmed in the waiting room. "This is taking too long," he complained.

Beside him, Krillen did not bother to look up from the magazine he was reading. "I'm sure it's fine," he calmly stated. "There is a lot they've got to check on her. She did just have a baby, after all."

"But what if something's wrong?" the tall boy asked.

"Can't be that bad," Krillen pointed out as he flipped the page. "No one is running down the hall shouting 'code blue, code blue'."

With a glare, Goku put his hands on his hips and demanded, "Could you put the damn magazine down? It's not even a good one."

Deliberately trying to be obstreperous, Krillen calmly turned the next page. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's a fashion magazine!"

"And I need to study up on how to make my legs look really long and lean."

Goku threw his arms in the air in frustration. "You're doing this to me on purpose!"

"Yep," his friend answered. "Because I know that everything is fine, and I know that if there isn't someone else to blow everything out of proportion for you, you need to do it yourself."

Slightly calmer, Goku asked, "Then why aren't you blowing everything out of proportion for me?"

Another turn of the page. "First of all, you'd never buy it," Krillen pointed out. "And second of all, this end is _way_ more fun for me. I don't get to see you flip out all that often."

With a frown on his face, the taller of the pair sat down. "You've seen me flip out," he softly admitted.

"And it hurt like hell," Krillen acknowledged. "However, that was a high octane situation where no one knew what was going on or if anything was ever going to be the same. This, my friend, is a checkup. Therefore I reserve the right to make fun of you as I flip through a magazine that I'm clearly not actually reading."

Goku smirked slightly. "I thought you wanted to make those legs of yours long and sexy."

Krillen grumbled slightly, still keeping his eyes on the glossy paper before him. "My legs are sexy right now, thank you very much. To hell with how long they are."

With a smirk, Goku asked, "Do you have any idea how lucky you are Vegeta isn't here to make fun of you right now?"

"Completely and totally aware," Krillen nodded. "However, since he's outside getting some air and trying to stay out of the hospital as much as humanly possible, I am free to look through the pretty girl magazine however much I want to."

"Underwear ads?" Goku asked.

"You bet."

Several minutes later they were given the go ahead to enter Chi-Chi's room once more. "So?" Goku quickly asked. "How are you? Are you okay? Is anything wrong? Can I get you anything? What can I do for you?"

Chi-Chi raised an eyebrow and looked beyond her boyfriend. "Is that what I sound like every time you two come back scraped up?" she asked Krillen.

"Please," Krillen scoffed. "You're not nearly this calm." When Goku shot him a dirty look, Krillen defended, "What? She's looking at _me_ and cracking a joke. It doesn't take a super genius to know she's fine."

"Does that mean that super geniuses aren't welcome here?"

The two boys turned around to find that Bulma and Raditz had returned. "Hey!" Krillen greeted. "So, what's up? How did it go?"

It had taken a long time for her to make the call, but in the end, Bulma was fairly glad she had. "Well, for one thing they assured me that I'm not even slightly at risk for getting accused, so that's good. And they've been able to determine that my own assets had nothing to do with the charges."

Chi-Chi sat forward in her bed. "What does that mean?"

"It means that while I don't have the big house anymore, I do have access to a decent chunk of money," Bulma explained. "It's not nearly the fortune I used to have, but it should be enough to, well…" A giant grin broke out on her face. "I think I can get us a house."

No one else spoke. Had she really just said that? Did they really have a chance to live a comfortable life again? "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Krillen asked.

"It's not a fortune," the former heiress emphasized. "But I think, with the market the way it is, we could get a legitimate place to call our own."

Krillen slowly began to approach her. "We…we'd have an address…"

"We could get stable jobs," Goku realized.

"We could have hot running water," Chi-Chi whispered.

"I'm not talking anything fancy," Bulma felt she needed to point out. "We're talking three bedrooms, tops, if we want enough left over to live off of for a while."

"Live off of what?" a voice behind her demanded.

Bulma jumped slightly. "How the hell does a guy who breathes with a raspy voice, brought on by what is clearly an improperly set broken nose, manage to sneak around so friggin' well?" she demanded.

"Practice," Vegeta bluntly answered. "Now what the hell is going on? I have only been gone for a few minutes."

Krillen beamed. "We got money!" When Vegeta shot the short teenager a hard look, indicating that he was not amused by the joke, Krillen went on to add, "No, seriously. Bulma says that they're giving back enough of her money for us to get a house."

Vegeta was momentarily stunned, but it did not last long. He sneered at her and turned, storming away.

With a confused look, Krillen began walking after him. "I got it," he muttered, taking his stride up to a jog to catch his friend.

It was with great puzzlement that the others glanced at one another. "What the hell was that about?" Raditz asked.

"Don't ask me," Bulma responded. "I was going to ask you guys."

Goku scratched the back of his head. "You guys heard the same information I did, right? We've got some money, we can get a house, all that good stuff? I didn't hit my head and hallucinate all of that, right?"

"Not that we know of," Bulma answered.

"Though I did whack you in the head a fair number of times when we were kids," Raditz admitted. When Bulma raised an eyebrow, the young man responded, "Trust me, he had it coming."

Chi-Chi sat back against the bed. "Well, while Vegeta's off being moody for goodness only knows what reason, can you tell us more about the house?"

Bulma smiled. "Well, it's not like I've gone house hunting yet," she admitted. "I'm running off of estimates here. But from what I found out, it sounds like I'll have access to the funds once I can prove where my current address, Raditz' place, is. So really all I have to do is head down to the DMV and get a new license, and that should be enough, theoretically."

"Are you sure that's all you have to do?" Raditz asked.

"No," Bulma admitted. "But I'll do whatever I have to in order to secure what we need. Think about it, guys. We might actually have a real home."


	27. Chapter 27

"Can I ask you something?"

Bulma looked over her shoulder to Goku as she opened Raditz' laptop on the table. "What is it?"

"Why is it that the hospital says you can't use a cell phone in here," he seriously asked, "but they offer free internet access?"

All around him, his friends exchanged curious glances. "I never thought of that before," Raditz said.

"Me neither," Chi-Chi chimed in.

Bulma could only offer a shrug. "I actually have no idea," she admitted. "Though I can tell you what _I'm_ researching this afternoon."

"Houses," Chi-Chi quickly intervened. "You're researching houses."

With a smile, the blue haired girl turned to her friend. "Eager much?"

"You bet your sweet ass," the brunette crossly responded. "This is the step that we've been dreaming of for _years_. This is the golden opportunity that we've been waiting for. Now get that computer running, and you don't stop until you have found us a new, wonderful home!"

"Hey, remember what I said before," Bulma cautioned. "We're not talking about a seven bedroom palace. We're not going to have a huge amount of space, considering how many people are going to be living there."

Goku rubbed his chin. "How many people _are_ going to be living there?"

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Goku, I know you can count. Figure it out."

But the boy shook his head. "No, seriously, who's living there? I mean, Chi-Chi and our son and I are all in, and I'm pretty sure Krillen and Vegeta aren't exactly going to turn down this offer. But what about you, Raditz? Are you moving in with us, or are you keeping your own place?"

The older brother frowned. "I hadn't really thought about it," he honestly answered. "Let's face it, we've only known that this was an option for a short amount of time. It already sounds like it's going to be damn crowded in there."

"You have to come!" Chi-Chi's cry was passionate, and tears brimmed in her eyes as she spoke. "We've already started the paperwork for you to be our son's foster guardian until Goku and I can prove we're stable, and who knows how long that is going to take! And if we keep him, but you aren't there, they're going to take him away from us completely! So I'm sorry if you're used to having your own little space or that you don't want to share, but damn it, you are not taking my son away from me and I am not losing him!"

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy," Goku softly spoke, gently placing his hands on his love's shoulders. "Just take a deep breath for a sec. Raditz is a good guy, and he's going to do what he can to help us. But let's give him a couple of minutes to get used to the idea. We've asked him for a lot. He's earned the right to have a little time."

"And in the meantime," Bulma added, hoping to ease tensions in the room, "we can at least get some window shopping done." Without another word she got the computer going, and the four in the room quietly scanned their prospects.

/

Krillen hesitated as he began to catch up with his friend. Vegeta was never exactly a pleasant person, and he had recently been even rougher to deal with than usual. Against hard odds he was the rock they needed, but in the wake of good news, something they got so rarely, he was so unpredictable that there was no such thing as a good way to approach him. For the first time in almost a lifetime, there was hope of pulling themselves up from the seemingly eternal hole they were living in. They had a chance to actually live somewhat normal lives. Insofar as Krillen could tell, there was absolutely nothing about that news that was upsetting, let alone infuriating.

But, as was almost tradition at that point, Vegeta had gotten mad about something that was not bad news. And while Krillen knew that there was, as always, some deeply rooted personal reason his friend was mad, there was no way to know what it was without a direct confrontation. With Vegeta, those were always so pleasant…

"Go away."

Krillen groaned. Already it was gearing up to be a pleasant conversation. "I think we both know that I'm not going to," he pointed out. "So come on, what's the problem?"

"Go away," the older boy bluntly restated.

But Krillen was persistent, and he jogged in front of his friend. "Listen," he said, "you just turned around and stormed out of the room like a twelve year old girl who just found out that her favorite TV star is not, in fact, in love with her. Now you know as well as I do that if I show up back in that room this quickly without anything to say, they're going to start coming out one at a time to talk to you themselves. However, if you just tell me whatever it is that's rammed a stick up your ass this time, I can at least get them to back off. So really, unless you want every person you're even remotely willing to talk to coming down and giving you hell, just tell me what the damn problem is!"

"Why is it any of their business anyway?" Vegeta demanded. "It does not concern them!"

"Yeah, actually, it does," Krillen argued. "When it caused you to do stuff like this, it concerns them. It concerns them a lot. And if you would just trust us, at least _one_ of us, with some of your issues, then maybe you could get away with bullshit like this."

Vegeta glared furiously at the shorter boy. "You are out of line," he warned.

However, Krillen stood his ground. "This is _good_ news, Vegeta," he fought. "What do you think is going to happen to us if we can't trust you to handle the _good_ news?"

"It has never mattered before," the older boy defended.

"Because we've never _had_ good news before!" Krillen angrily pointed out. "Not like this, at least. Vegeta, listen to me, please. This is our opportunity. This is our chance. And aren't you the one who's said all along that if we ever got the chance to get out of the gutter, we should grip on to it with two hands and never let go?"

"This isn't about that."

"Then what _is_ it about?"

Vegeta side stepped Krillen and tried to walk away. "Leave me alone!"

The smaller boy, though, was on top of his game, and blocked his friend well. "So help me, Vegeta, I am going to stick right next to you and become the most annoying thing you've ever been around until you get it through your head that something is bothering you and that you have to get it out of your system."

"There is nothing wrong!" Vegeta fought back.

"Bullshit," came the curt reply. "If nothing were wrong, you'd just be ignoring us. You wouldn't have said a damn thing." Switching his tone quickly, Krillen softly asked, "Please, just let me know."

With a snarl, Vegeta shoved his friend aside. "The situation is fine," he growled. "There is nothing wrong with it."

"Then what's the problem?" When nothing was spoken in return, Krillen gave voice to his theory. "Is this about Tarble?" It was with a lot of luck that Krillen was able to block the majority of the blow that came his way. _Wow, guess I hit the nail on the head with that one_, he thought as he ducked another swing. "Okay, okay, that's all I needed!" he quickly said. "Info has been gathered! I can now confidently tell them to leave you the hell alone, so bye!"

Vegeta staggered slightly as Krillen escaped clearly and began running back for the building, but he did not give chase. As enraged as he was by Krillen's actions, he had known the young man long enough to trust him to use discretion. Krillen would not mention the root issue, no so long as he felt confident that he knew what the issue was. Still angry, though, Vegeta turned and walked down the street. He dearly needed to cool his temper before he went back up and saw the others.

/

Bulma slid through the images on the screen. "Well, given what we've found so far, if we're willing to set up camp in certain areas, we may yet be able to get a place with four rooms and a decent back yard."

"So why not pick one of those?" Goku asked.

With a sigh, the former heiress leaned back against her chair. "Most of them are in mountain communities," she explained. "They're great places, but we'd need to have a car just to get basic groceries and necessities."

Goku still seemed confused. "Raditz has one."

"Yeah, _one_," Bulma emphasized. "And he and I are the only people licensed to drive it. That means if one of us is out using the car, everyone at home is pretty much stuck there."

"What about busses?" Chi-Chi asked. "Don't they go up there?"

Bulma shrugged. "I'm not sure about each individual one, but I know a lot of them have extremely limited service. Getting each person to a job is going to take some serious orchestration. It's not necessarily impossible, though, so I'm not ruling it out entirely. I just want us to think about what it means when we look at these places. More space is almost always going to come with some other cost. We just have to decide what costs we are willing to pay."

"Oh." The young woman settled against her pillows. "This is more complicated than I thought it would be."

"No kidding," Bulma muttered. "And from what I've been able to pick up, even if we found a place immediately, it would take a while for the financial transactions to be finalized, let alone for it to be ready for us to move in. Sorry, guys, but when we leave here, it looks like we're going back to our old place."

Raditz shifted his weight slightly. "I think it might be better if they stayed at my place," he mentioned. "Chi-Chi's going to need more than she can get at your place."

"It's a one bedroom place," Bulma pointed out. "There are six of us, and we're probably going to be getting surprise inspections from that social worker. I hate to say it, but Chi-Chi's probably going to have to tough it out at the old place if we don't want her to get caught in our place. I'm pretty sure there are rules about having the parents of a foster child in the foster home at non-designated times." She shifted and gave Chi-Chi an apologetic look. "I'm sorry."

The brunette avoided eye contact, but she nodded. "We do what we have to," she softly responded.

As Goku gave his love a hug, Raditz leaned in toward Bulma and quietly asked, "Is she going to be okay if she does that?"

"She's strong," Bulma assured. "And trust me, if something starts going wrong, there'll be a small army of guys working miracles to help her." The situation did not sit any better with the former heiress, but since losing her home, she had found herself able to justify more to herself than she ever would have thought about. "Chi-Chi's a fighter."

"She is," Goku beamed. "She's the strongest!"

"I'll second that!" Krillen chimed in as he entered the room.

Bulma frowned as she looked at her short friend. "So?" she demanded.

But Krillen simply shrugged. "It's a personal thing," he simply answered. "And before you ask, no, I'm not going into detail. You'll just have to be curious."

"How come you get to know but I don't?" she demanded.

It was with a serious look that Krillen addressed the young woman. "Bulma, I have known him longer than any of us. I'm his oldest friend. And with that comes the privilege of getting to know certain things about someone, along with the responsibility to not betray trust. I know you're curious, but his trust in me means more than your curiosity." And when her mouth opened to try one more push, he stopped her. "You're not going to win this one. Back off."

"All I was going to ask," Bulma said defensively, "was if you knew when he was going to come back. I want everyone's input before I actively pursue the house thing any further."

"Oh." Krillen looked to the ground, suddenly embarrassed by his actions.

Bulma leaned back and clasped both hands behind her head. "You're a good friend," she told him. "I can see why he trusts you so much." She sighed. "Hey, why don't you guys browse through the listings for a little bit on your own while Raditz and I go grab us something to eat?"

It was an offer she did not need to repeat. It was barely out of her mouth when she felt several hands on her body, guiding her out of the chair and toward the door. "Okay, okay!" she laughed. "I get the picture!"

Raditz wrapped an arm around her shoulders and finished getting her into the hallway. "You know," he chuckled, "I would like to think that they're just really eager to find a new home, but let's face it, my brother is more interested in the food right now."

"No fooling," the young woman laughed back. "I know that you've spent more time with him than I have, but I've been with him long enough to know the order is Chi-Chi first, food second, everything else third."

Her intended shook his head. "No, now that the boy has been born, everything else just got bumped down on the totem pole."

With an uneasy shrug, Bulma softly said, "Yeah, I guess you're right." She rolled her head, trying to work out an ache in her neck. "Everything's been so weird lately. It sometimes seems like it's just one enormously bizarre dream. I mean, there's a part of my mind that tells me that I should be waking up at some point. I know it's real, it's just…it's strange, you know?"

"You're telling me." They got in the elevator and began to head down to the cafeteria when the young man asked, "Why didn't you tell them about the rest of the information?"

Bulma kept her eyes forward. "I told them everything that was important."

Raditz frowned. "No, you didn't," he disagreed. "You can bluff the others, but I was there when you made that phone call. You let me hear both sides of it. I know that they told you about…"

"Nothing important," she interrupted.

The rest of the ride down was uncomfortably silent. Raditz felt the need to talk to her about what they knew, but Bulma's jaw was clenched shut. She was not going to speak any further on the matter. So he waited for them to be entering the cafeteria, and switched gears. "Any further thoughts on the wedding?"

That was a topic that Bulma could get on board with. "Well, clearly we're going to be keeping it pretty simple," she responded. "Everyone on my guest list can fit in one minivan, so I hardly see the need for a grand hall or anything." The smile she had started to form faltered. "Oh," she whispered, realization dawning on her. "Your parents…"

"Yeah, them," Raditz sighed. "I know there have been issues with my family in the past. I wish I had answers to all of the problems. But there are a lot of factors that I haven't really had a chance to think about, and this is one of them. They disowned my brother years ago, but, well, I don't know. They never said it, but I'm not entirely convinced that it wasn't something that's haunted them ever since. I like to think that my parents love is not conditional. It bugs me that they might have been serious when they told him to get out forever. But I just don't know."

Her smile turned into a complete frown. "Do they know they have a grandson yet?"

"If they do, they didn't hear it from me," her fiancé confessed. "I'm with you, it's been too crazy to think straight. I don't even know what I should tell them. Whatever it is, you're helping me come up with it." He looked around, and a smirk began to appear. "Listen, I am damn sick of this hospital food. What's say you and I go out and get something else? Give us a chance to stretch our legs?"

Blue eyes looked up with happiness. "And give us a little alone time?"

"Even better." Once again, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they turned for the exit. This time, the former heiress leaned her head against his body as they walked, and she snaked her arm around his waist. What had started out as a simple cover story was quickly developing into something far more real. True affection was forming fast. As they neared the door, Bulma stood on the balls of her feet, leaned up, and placed a kiss on Raditz' cheek. He paused at the sensation, but only briefly. His arm still around her, he pulled her close and offered a soft kiss on her lips in return.

"We need to do this more often," Bulma smiled, kissing him again.

"M'hm," came the reply.

"Oh, spare me."

Bulma groaned as she pulled back. "Why the hell do you always manage to show up at times like this, Vegeta?"

The intruder hardly seemed any happier than the woman. "Right, I chose now because I have some sick need to watch you two swap saliva. Where the hell are you two going?"

"Food run," Raditz bluntly answered. He was not at all in a good mood at having been interrupted. "Anything you want?"

"Whatever." The shorter boy brushed them off and marched back inside without so much as another glance.

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Well, as always, there goes Mr. Sunshine." With a huff, she once again placed her arm around Raditz' middle. "But since we know he's inside, I say you and I definitely head outside." Another kiss was placed on his cheek. "Perhaps we can take the scenic route? You know, alone time?"

Raditz grinned. "How much _alone_ time are you thinking of?"

"How much can you give me?" she flirted back.

"No, seriously," he quickly asked. "Are we talking walk through a park, back of the car, couch on the apartment…"

Bulma laughed. "Let's start with the park," she giggled, patting his broad chest. "And maybe, if you're a good boy, we'll swing by the car on the way back."


End file.
